The seller was in need to sell ASAP so he could move on with his life after his mother's deathI wanted to invest to gain some experience and move towards my goalsThe tenant was desperate to find a place for his family of 5 after being kicked out of his previous house by the heir of the property after the landlord's death.Both the seller and my tenant became my friends.

Desperate sellers do desperate things.

I have tried desperately to find a partial exchange calculator but to no avail.  

Someone offering 30% for 3 months, with a “1st lien” position is either desperate or scamming....I’d pass, but I’d do some research to see what the angle is, just for future knowledge.  

Its unethical to take their fee if you have several qualified applicants already in queue.Don't take advantage of desperation for a couple hundred bucks.

@Chelsea Ziss you desperately need an accountant to advise you.

I’ll try to keep this as short as I can but also paint the exact picture that I am in and desperately need some advice.

The biggest issue I find with renting something at over market value and getting someone desperate and willing to pay the high rent, is they will always be looking for something cheaper and you might have a lot of turnover. 

I think the due diligence fee falls squarely in the category of "stuff buyers do in a HOT market when they desperately want a deal and simply don't know any better!"

They do this either by lying about the true value of the property or by finding sellers who are so desperate to get out of a bad situation that they'll take a bad offer just to put out whatever fire is going on around them.For the record, Mass law is crystal clear.