Water in crawl space, high water line, sump pump out

[Sean Keating]

I found a potential investment property and looks like it could be fantastic to fix up.  The property hasn't be occupied for almost 2 years.  Unable to do an inspection prior to an accepted offer, I started looking around for any information I could on the property.  I found out that the property is on a high water table and there was a sump pump in the crawl space to help with excess water.  Then, I was told that 6 months ago that someone had visited the site, and discovered there was at least a couple inches of standing water in the crawl space.  Making me assume the sump pump was not running/functioning and the water could have been there for even longer.

I'm wondering what kind of damage the standing water in the crawl space could have caused.  What should I look for if we go in with an offer to do an inspection.  Has anyone had experience with something similar?  What was the result?  What did you have to do?  Should I even think about a property like this?