Based on my experiences, the friend of the family piece to this scares me more than any Rottweiler ever will. :)

Typically those purchases fall under one of the following categories.1) Purchased through direct mail or some other from of direct contact with seller and never hit the MLS2) Pocket listing where agent never exposed property to MLS3) Short sale (there were a lot more of these a couple years ago)4) Complex title issues, bad tenants, and other impediments that scare off most buyers5) Some sort of shady deal where property hits MLS and goes on hold right away, often somebody is greasing somebody in these situations and #3 above is closely related to this as well.Unless you are lending on properties out here I do not think the market dynamics here are relevant to Illinois and would not suggest making your lending decisions based on transactions that take place here.

Saw this while trying to research how to get rid of cigarette smoke https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-are-sold-air-cleaners#ozone-health anyone have thoughts on how harmful ozone generators really are?

This can get very expensive.I'm not trying to scare you because un-permitted work is done all the time.

Not sure how they enforce it, but sure scared me.

Maybe a call to the Dept of Public Health may provide you some ideas on how to make his current environment less hospitable.

For a roof replacement I could have done for a fraction of that.As has been said, lots of things outside of your control, but I wouldn't be scared of them as long as that was factored into your budgeting.

I have never been good at sales, so that scares me too.

But if you can find the right deal this could be a money maker because so many folks will be scared off.

One question for you (since you have small kids), is what did you do about health insurance (or does you wife work)?