Enough to provide my parents with financial security throughout there retirement, donations to various charities and eventually to leave behind a legacy.

It had something to do with the buyer not having the 3% down and wanting to use some charity, that I would pay the 3% and they would then gift it to her.

If I buy the house I can't just break the lease, it must be honored, but I don't want a year of someone paying 30% market rent.It must be nice to be able to run a charity Tom, should I offer to pay their utilities and perhaps buy them a car, because they may be great people?

She has no other heirs nor wants to give to any charities.

I don't know why this fascinates me so much (and I recently pitched a reality tv producer about it - with a charity bent to it) but the idea of turning a certain sum into a much larger sum in a time frame captivates me in an unhealthy way.

A bank REO guy does this every day with people who have hundreds of millions to invest in SFRs.In RE investing, you are looking for the magic triad of circumstances:1) Motivated seller - NEEDS to sell ASAP2) Distressed property - will not sell on retail market until it's repaired3) High equity - this gives them the ability to negotiate on price down to where you MUST be if this is a business and not a charity ;-)If all three of those do not exist, the deal could be elusive and you could waste a huge amount of time chasing it.Oh, and the house MUST NOT BE LISTED.

Closed and had it rented through Catholic Charities within 1 week.

"Pink" that ties into your brand, your charity and what you do.

It all depends on the tenant base as mentioned.The bad credit ones will wait and see if you pay the money to file eviction and will not care about the notice you give them.Make sure in your lease you have language that states the security deposit CANNOT be applied to last months or any months rent.If you do not have that in there you can be in trouble.Sometimes if the tenant is a good tenant that falls behind the landlord will let them apply the security deposit to catch up that one month if it makes sense.You need to get an written agreement in writing though signed by the tenant authorizing this.With college degree highly educated tenants the job is more stable,they have reserves for bumps in the road,etc.This is not always the case but works in your favor with percentages.With lower income the education tends to be less,they work 2 jobs to pay the rent,the rely on multiple incomes in the house hold to pay the rent,charity assistance,government programs,etc.The cash is more but you are almost a social worker and the drama that comes with it can be too much to deal with at times.

Great way to save money, goes to a good charity, and you are being more green re using.