Update:
House had a previous offer that fell through after inspection, so there is an inspection report that has been forwarded to me.
The good: 5 year old roof which appears solid, foundation appears solid brick exterior in good shape, interior walls and hardwood floors in good shape, one bathroom has been updated and 2nd bath is not terrible (slightly dated.) Paint is fresh and walls/ceilings are solid. No signs of roof leaks in the torrential rain. As a result of previous inspection: brand new water heater and seller is offering $5K allowance towards kitchen flooring and appliances. Seller is also replacing all interior doors and will pay closing costs. I think those proposed changes would get it move in ready and rentable. Layout is good but would be better if a wall came down between the kitchen and living room; not sure if that is possible. Numbers look
The bad: kitchen basically has no appliances (they were old so the agent told her to just get them out.) Kitchen flooring is a wreck and cabinets are dated (but could be painted.) Concrete driveway isn't in great shape.
The ugly: sniff test fail due to mildew smell. Some of the baseboard in the kitchen, particularly behind where the appliances were, is rotten. A pipe burst underneath and flooded the crawl space which rotted some of the post which supposedly have now been replaced. Makes me concerned about the plumbing in general (house build in the 60's.) A new vapor barrier and sump pump is installed but there's still a pretty strong mildew smell underneath the house. I'm going to crawl underneath my house now for comparison sniffing ;-) I have smelled this odor before during house hunting trips, so it's not unusual, just not my favorite odor.
Not sure if I'll bite. Definitely inspection including mold contingency if I make an offer.
Thoughts? I'd almost rather have the price go down by $5K than have the allowance, but I'm torn on that just in case there's some nastiness under the existing kitchen floor. I pulled some up and subfloor seems reasonable. Probably needs a second look, though . . .