All it takes is one upset neighbor or one upset owner that is playing by the rules and not renting it out for this option to become a nightmare.

Talk to neighbors about these homes.

Great neighbors and neighborhood. 

@Christine Concepcion, Hi neighbor.  

At 1350 one neighbor has had 3 weeks vacancy in 3 years he's owned it. 

Aurora, the (often-forgotten) next door neighbor to Denver, getting respect on the national stage! 

@Chris Mason maybe 203k loans are just more popular in my area but my neighbors also bougt their historic row house with a 203k loan:  80k purchase price and 190k reno.

What I noticed on this particular street is that most of the neighbors own their home, very few bars are on the windows and lastly the local power company is almost never on this street disconnecting and reconnecting services.

Knock on the neighbors door to see if they have any info.

I told him i would not pay until what we had agreed was fulfilled, he then went to "fix" what was left and he did a mediocre job and called it done.