First of all, most of these agreements are hog wash, scare tactics to keep other in line.

Your health will be better and you will get fewer lines in your face.Consider this, there is a high probability that more experienced investors were shown this same investment opportunity and turned it down.

You can suggest to the current owner to try and do at least something minimal to stop the leak.Tell her about the mold issues that could arise and affect his/her health if left unattended.Write into your short sale contract a special clause that requires a secondary inspection to verify that conditions of the property has not deteriorated since the original contract may serve as a motivation for the owner to do something to have you not back out, of course, the flip side is you may scare them off with such contingency.

I don't say this to scare or discourage you - only to highlight that real estate investing carries very real and large risks.

(the tenants were scared we were going to try to move them out or something.)

Sorry to scare you but you probably want to call your bank, CC companies, PayPal, etc. and have your access refreshed with new passwords and even account numbers.

If you are unwilling to give money away, then you are scared you won't be able to make it back again.

Just know that they are losing their home, they are sad, mad, scared, nervous and unsure about their future, so use some tact and sympathy to determine if they plan to move and when.

They already have a health code violation that they remedied in the 7 days, so by damaging the door instead of calling a locksmith should be grounds for termination.

What scares you more?