I have actual work to do and don't need 30 days of this.He never paid me the expense deposit in my management agreement and I never pushed on it because I'm always holding enough of his rent at any given time for it not to matter.

I had a guest that waited 30 days for a credit to his AMEX for a refunded security deposit.

That will limit the amount of time the property could be off the market IF the buyer doesn't like the inspection.Lastly, get a satisfactory amount of earnest money deposit on that contract.

In TX we can collect up to a double security deposit which I do for some tenants.

I can quickly create bank accounts for each property, the categories for tagging your transactions align perfectly with your Schedule E for taxes and I can do all of my tenant related functions like tenant vetting, lease creation and collecting deposits and rents.

They will never be able to move all of this to their new address, and their damage deposit will never cover having to clean the place out. 

Make sure you get the deposits from the tenants, copies of their lease and rents paid out. 

I sent her the check for returned security deposit by certified mail to a P.O. box she provided me.

It might not even be accepted on your initial terms and most states have buyer focused contingency periods, or a statutory period of 7-14 business days to remit the deposit, perform inspections, organize appraisals and generally renegotiate or cancel without risk to the buyers earnest money deposit.

You will want to make sure the Holding Agreement agreement clearly provides that the monies paid is not the required move-in monies, rent, or a deposit and is a fee to hold the property from being rented until August 1.