I wonder what the legality of it is.

I normally say something like "Im working with a group of investors that would be very interested in this house and they pay me a fee for bringing them properties" "I will not be buying this myself, but the contract allows me to legally show the property to them."

Not all estates are probated, wills are approved and won't show up, properties in trust and properties held in joint tenancy are generally passed without probate issues.While I know you can chase the ambulance I never did, I realize that the world is all computerized now, but did you try looking these old folks up in the phone book, get the address, from there you can get the legal and copies of deeds and mortgages filed.

If all that is needed is the final, you should be in a good position, but without all the facts, impossible for me or anyone else to say for sure.

I am almost 100% sure the entire room would need to be replaced but I wanted to make sure I stay within my legal limits with charging her.

I also read through a number of legal articles, paper, the Texas Property Code, etc. and I can't find anything specifically relating to how we gain an interpretation of this from someone empowered to do so.

I will chime in towards J Scott' s reply...I recall homes in New Orleans after Katrina were condemed alng with the whole neighborhood making it impossible to insure after the rehabs.

If lower -- say 10% -- then you would be looking at a value close to 270k.Your real profit, of course, is the difference between what you can sell it for after re-hab (net costs of sale such as commission, legal fees, conveyance tax and also cap gain tax) less what you have into it -- purchase price, rehab costs, and all carrying costs during re-hab (such as mortgage interest, prop tax, insurance).

General admin: not much in the small props, but it costs for the evictions, accounting, legal.

Expenses such as damage, clean up, re-rent marketing, legal eviction, etc.