Ricky Brown one easy tip to start a scam is if they ask for an upfront fees (or anything more than a nominal $200-$400 appraisal fee).

Louis fed (I believe they got the chart from Case Shiller) so I'm 90% sure it's inflation adjusted...Also, if you look at prices from 1988 to 2000 they're almost flat which wouldn't be the case in nominal terms.  

Our earnest money deposit is very nominal, so we are not at risk there, even if we should lose that.

You could nominate or ask for a tenant-volunteer to collect the rent and make one deposit. 

I'd also include a clause in the contract regarding the process for approval to move them when/if needed, and providing nominal penalties if they're moved without permission, per incident.

You'll find that the cost is nominal.  

In your shoes, I would do a nominal $35-$50 per month for a 3-5 month lease.

@Eric DeVito, by your numbers (buy 255K, invest 30K, sell 499K) you nominally have $214K equity, not $60K. 

You need to have consideration generally for a conveyance to be for valid so you see sometimes a nominal amount like $1.00 or $10.00.

So the stated terms are great but the actual results you get  will be much lower as, interest rates get bid  down and prices for the properties get bid up, or both.In Baltimore the nominal interest rate is 18% but the overall effective interest rate typically comes  out to more like 6-8% typically.