I did a little research and I suspect that the issue is not the type of metal but an incorrect valve application. ie, someone may have used a shutoff intended for water and not a gas rated one.They're typically marked in some way.

Sorry @Stephanie P. but your interpretation is incorrect. 

I don't know if I will be buying a house soon or not"  You need to make a decision here.You can make an offer without preapproval but you may have to dig for a realtor willing to do that for you if you need a realtor. 

@Jenna Williams - While each program has their quirks some of the bigger players are Yardi Voyager and MRI... which are expensive decisions as @Laticia Braxton eluded to, but become necessary once you reach a certain level.

You make your money when you buy.To learn more on this, I would buy David Greene's book called Long-Distance Real Estate Investing and jump to chapter 8 before making a final decision on purchasing a turn-key property.

Ultimately it’s their decision and getting on their good side is the best first step you can take.

I am struggling finding the right place to choose and I want to make a decision by end of January next year otherwise I will wait until the following august.

Non-arms length deals often cloud investment decisions...Honest and direct question -- if they want to sell it, "so they can fund other investments", that means they've come to the conclusion that more attractive IRR is elsewhere. 

Data driven decisions with some guts to act make the best investments – go make it happen!

Ultimately what ever direction you choose make the decision based off of your end goals.