Should we buy our rental house even with the trashed doors and water damage?

Those doors are likely a lost cause if the cigarette tar has bonded with weather-damaged wood. Nicotine and tar seep deep into the grain; even if you sand it down, the smell often lingers and resurfaces whenever the sun hits the door and warms it up. If there is actual rot from the weather or deep pet damage, you are better off just hanging new pre-hung units. Trying to restore a door that has been thru that level of neglect is a massive time sink for a mediocre result, and the cost of quality sandpaper and primer alone starts to rival a mid-range slab. The isopods and crickets are a massive red flag for the structure. Isopods need high moisture levels to survive beacuse they breathe through gills. If they are coming out from behind the oven, you have got significant **subfloor rot** or a colony living in the saturated wood under that linoleum. The fact that the floor ripples when it is humid means the wood is still active and expanding because it is not properly dried out or sealed. You are not just looking at new flooring; you are likely looking at replacing the joists and subfloor in that kitchen. You need a proffesional inspection before you even think about a price. Do not let the "good deal" talk cloud the reality that this house might be a studs-out renovation. Compare the price he wants against similar homes in the area that are acutally move-in ready, then subtract at least $50k to $80k for the moisture remediation, crawlspace encapsulation, and kitchen reconstruction. That is the only way to see if the math actually works.

An open crawlspace is basially an invitation for every rodent and termite in the zip code. If there is no vapor barrier and you have had standing water from that HVAC leak, the mold situation down there is probably gnarly. If the landlord wants to sell it to avoid the headache of fixing it before moving abroad, make sure the price reflects that you are taking a massive liability off his hands. You are doing him the favor here, not the other way around.

That part about the cigarette smell resurfacing when the sun hits the door is terrifying. If the frames are also soaked in that stuff, whould we have to rip out the trim and everythign too? I was hoping to just paint over it with some heavy-duty primer, but it sounds like that might be a waste of time. Also, is there any way to tell if a door is rotting from the inside before you start sanding it? I don't want to start a project only to have the wood crumble in my hands. This is sounding like a way bigger project than I expected.

Take a flathead screwdriver and poke the bottom corners or near the hinges. If the metal sinks in like soft butter, that door is structurally gone. Regarding the frames, if the wood has soaked up years of cigarette tar, just painting over it is a gamble. You’ll usally find the smell trapped in the shim space behind the trim anyway. If those bugs are coming out of the walls, pulling the whole unit out gives you a chance to see if the wall studs are actualy holding up or if they've turned into mulch. Don't waste time on a slab-only swap when the real rot is likely hiding in the framing.

Check the door thresholds near that kitchen area. If the subfloor is soft, those frames will eventually sag and the doors won't even latch right. I've seen people buy 'cheap' only to find out the crawlspace moisture turned the joists into sponges. Don't forget the hardware either. If the cigarette gunk is thick, the hinges and strike plates are probably coated in it too. If you're smelling it that bad, look at the weatherstripping. If it’s old and tacky, it’s holding onto alot of that nasty scent. With the rot and the smell combined, you're better off ripping the whole unit out than trying to scrub years of grime off old metal.