You will be viewed as a soft touch by allowing them to pay late and they will do it again.

Ok folks I have been a independent investigator for 20 years now. One thing that holds true is that about 95% of the time what people are selling you in order for you to make more money doesn't work in the real world....

Hello, Iv'e been wondering about freedom soft as well.

Nobody in LA can build that cheap, or the finish needs to be ripped and changed by the new owner. 110/sf is for town houses that everyone  wants to rip out the cabinets to put their home depot stock on. 70-90/sf on soft costs, and 150/sf on land (say a 1200 sf is 180k). 

One issue on the second property was problematic, and we couldn't realistically address it before closing (a small soft spot in one floor, nothing structural just a little bubble under the faux-hardwood flooring where the floor had shifted a bit over the years). 

Is there room for  soft or declining rent?

If the ground is real soft to begin with or you have a basement then it might matter more.

There are a lot more soft costs that go into a new build and often times the economies of scale allow you to build two or more properties at the same time.  

First is that both the 'soft' costs of sales and the 'hard' construction costs are broken out by % so they are easily compared to houses of different sizes and price ranges.

Some of those temporaty pools with soft sidewalls can be quite big - big enough for some kids.