1925 Bungalow: Why would anyone back out of such a good deal?

"Oh, that's why"
It was time to do a walk through and find answers to questions like, "Why would anyone back out of escrow on such a low price?", "That roof looks old, think there's any water damage?", "Is

that a porcelain knob up under the eaves?", or my favorite, "What's all this sawdust falling out of the front porch from?"
Turns out there were reasons why it had sat empty for ten years. The heater was one of those reasons. I didn't turn it on because I'm particularly afraid of third degree burns.
Oh and our good friend, the industrious termite! There was termite

damage, mainly in two of the kitchen floor joists.
The roof was a good 50 years old, knob and tube wiring reigned supreme.
Let's not forget the bathroom! Someone had tiled over the top of plywood,

I only know this because I was able to pull the tiles loose by hand with little effort.
There was also a lovely brown carpet throughout the house that smells like it was browner than originally intended. Under the carpet was a a layer of vinyl tile or linoleum, under that was an older layer of vinyl tile or linoleum and under that was layer of tarpaper that had become one with the lead based paint on the doug fir sub floor.