The Conclusion.....

Jens, Steve the Realtor, and I spent a fair amount of time going through the house.  We uncovered some areas of concern which did not surprise me given the totally neglected condition of the outside storage shed.  It could barely hold itself together and would have to be torn down.  Things like that are a good barometer of how a homeowner maintains their property.  I was not disappointed.

The ceiling showed clear signs of water damage in the Great Room as well as the three bedrooms.  There was no way to determine if the leaks were from the current roof or from an old one that had since been replaced.  In any case, the entire ceiling would all have to come down to effect repairs and eliminate potential mold issues.  Given the lower list price, I don't expect any concessions from the owners on the price so I'm not too worried about it.  It is what it is.

The center beam in the living room above the fireplace looked to be sagging, actually cracked.  I couldn't tell if it the problem lie in the beam itself (or if there was even a beam there at all) or if it solely involved the decorative panel sheathing the beam. It didn't look very good but really that problem did not intimidate me or diminish my interest in the place. 

I don't recall how we came to know this but it had been a suggested there might be plumbing problems involving some kind of leakage behind one of the shower walls.  Who knows what THAT means!!  The house has a slab foundation so encased plumbing work could be expensive....or....you can just cut the plumbing off at the floor and reroute it through the attic space.  Another non-issue for me.  I've sweated pipes before so no biggee.

I commented to Steve the Realtor that this was looking more like a $25k house, not the $39.9k listing price.

All in all, I still liked it.  It was just unique enough to make it interesting to me and there seemed to be excellent potential for a good return on my dollar if I were to sell after renovating.  I told Steve the Realtor several days later to draw up a contract offering $37k contingent upon the results of an inspection report.

I contacted an inspector and made arrangements to meet him at the house.