Worst one was opening up a kitchen wall and finding water damage that had rotted out the studs looked totally fine before demo.

I’ve seen properties that looked totally fine during a quick walkthrough, but once renovation started and walls or flooring came out, there was hidden rot, mold, and damaged framing from slow leaks over many years.

Do you guys have a ROT to determine your exit strategy for new constructions?

When we opened the soffit, we found that sections of the roof had completely rotted out.

The rotting sargassum smells like rotten eggs, so most of the rural ocean-side areas smelled bad.Assuming none if what I wrote bothers you, like any international investment, you now have currency risk, political risk, and added costs from managing all that, plus the on-going requirements for filing taxes.For us, it made a lot more sense to keep investing in the US where we know how to get great returns on our money. 

If the floors are solid underfoot, the joists look sound, and there’s no active moisture or rot in the crawl space, it’s often something that’s been that way for decades.That said, I wouldn’t automatically call it “character” either.

Pipes under the house have rotted out.

In some ways it seems a little different since one has the added benefit of living in the house.We are looking at a deal with asking price of $635KIt is a 4 plexI have looked through the books for 2025 and excluding items I think count as cap ex (a water heater replacement, gravel added for the driveway [last done 3 years prior] , and some new gutters, fascia, carpet, drywall, and paint because the old fascia rotted and the gutter came of causing part of the house to become water damaged) the NOI was $33,802.45.A realtor we have worked with, who is an investor, said for our market (Winfield, IL), a cap rate of 5.75-6% is fair. 

Just move to a new landing yard and leave the waste to rot.  7.  

Ignored caulking becomes rot.