If you were trying to lose weight, would you eat a whole chocolate cake in one sitting??

No, because they have cable to pay, they have electric to pay, food to eat, going out to do, purses to buy.

@Tyson Thomas would love to grab a bite to eat and discuss opportunities to partner on a project this winter, drop me a line if you're interested!

So can I have my cake and eat it too?

If the appraiser drives by your house, or more likely does a google drive by and sees the  warning signs... they will murder your house on appraisal.The current deal I am working, the house was basically move in ready... they just left it a mess, didnt stage it, overpriced it, marketed it NONE... had a garbage realtor, and had moved out of state and were eating the mortgage. 

With that said, while moving out might have been the best thing you could have done for your own emotional health, that doesn't mean your LL has to "eat" your moving out with little or no notice. 

Filling in the gaps between contractors will eat you up unless you find someone to take care of that.

If they say you can afford $3500/mo but  you know that you like to have money for eating out a lot, concerts, travel, whatever, then be smart.  

Then you have to beat the street to eat again.I have 10, 20 year investment horizons.  

As I see things, my options are: (i) eat the cost; (ii) have seller adjust the purchase price down by some agreed upon amount; (iii) have seller write a check for the missing security deposits; or (iv) have inherited tenants pay a security deposit when we take over the property.