The only one that comes to mind is a loan I originated for my surveyor.

To keep my peace of mind I want to put a contingency in the contract, or at least a longer inspection period that encompasses the time the inspection results are supposed to arrive.Question: Is asking for any of these going to blow my "highest & best" status with Freddie?

Ha I feel I'm in Real Estate Investing 103 instead of 101.One thing to keep in mind is that you don't want to dry up a mentor's time by asking every question you have when starting out.There is PleNTy of information out there to get comfortable with REI so I suggest you learn what you can before seeking out a mentor.Here are the best sources I've found:1) BiggerPockets (Congrats your past step #1!)

Keep in mind I am speaking generally and state laws can be very specific about handling of security deposits.

The thought of refinancing still crosses my mind.  I

One thing to keep in mind is when the economy is in a slump these areas get hit the hardest due to most of the properties being vacation homes or second homes or rentals.People tend to hang on to their primary homes and let the others go so these resort type homes have higher foreclosure rates etc.just food for thought.

What some people can do to a house in 6 months just blows my mind! I

(Primarily due to refinancing several years ago when we lived in that property and mortgage rates had hit rock bottom.)Something to keep in mind is that once you have a free and clear property you can take out a HELOC against it and you are now a "cash" buyer for the next property, with all of the advantages that entails.

For some reason in the back of my mind I think of them as used-car salesmen.

I'm just learning about real estate myself, but the obvious thing that comes to mind is that the purchase price may have been higher.