I would pick a handful of this investors properties with the newest roof, hvac, water heater and then have the investor refinance 40% of the home's current value to a bank lendor. 

Hi Gary Sweeney,Are you purchase the bank-owned property own or to the hand of a broker or agent?

Whether they did or didn't doesn't really matter; they should have a certain amount of funds on hand to cover the unpaid costs.

The 3 plex she bought for $110K in 1980 sold for over $850K in 2006, 25 years later, and just that alone was more than the cash on hand when she started when she retired.

Numbers ran, cash in hand, offer out the door same day.

You can use a letter of intent to lay down the initial structure to hand to an attorney, but if you don't know, then just go straight to the attorney. 

Everyone says foundation repairs get out of hand easily and I’m not sure if I can quickly get a good structural engineer to write up a report and get quotes from GCs by the end of the closing date.

Why would I want to take that risk, AND give up the chance of getting a pile of money from a buyer who has tipped his hand as to what he'll pay?

- Repairs are never “needed” to sell a home, but may help it to sale faster/easier if done before hand.  

If the kids have a party and destroy the house and the parents say they aren't at fault, you have a serious issue on your hands!