Water in the wall, open permits, and inspection before offer

[Chad Michael]

Hello,    

This is a short sale property where I cannot personally go in and examine the property prior to offering per the comments of the listing.    The gable end of the roof is visibly defective and almost non-existant and the remarks say "water in the walls and possibly mold."   There are 4 open permits (kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, carport, and driveway extension).       This is my first time seeing this much wrong with a property AND seeing offer Instructions from the lender as such:  "Buyer to have inspection report and estimate from a licensed contractor PRIOR to offering."       

This house is 1800SF and has an ARV of about $240k and is listed for $130k. At the moment, I'm willing to call the rehab estimate approximately 70kk. This is in Broward County, where it seems that all our deals are made by negotiation and not much low hanging fruit here. I'm having to be careful with my cash at the moment and don't know if I should take the leap with a contractor fee and an inspection as opposed to moving onto the next deal.

 For current circumstances and for future reference, does anyone have any experience handling this type of short sale?     

Thanks,

Chad