How can I address this in the lease to reduce my liability? 

We will put the house on the market next month just want to start early and do our best to reduce the vacant time.

To make the numbers work on that deal and get 100% financing, you would need to reduce your reno budget by $20k.

I've seen appraisers reduce the appraised value by the seller credit.

I say try because it also reduces transparency: After the changes, I won't be able to tell my buyer client if a given seller is going to pay the commission on their behalf just by looking at the MLS anymore.

Maybe it will help you get some work done and reduce the amount you need to pull from other sources. 

Hi Julie,We’re looking at a very similar situation with a house owned by an estate where one of the family members wants to remain in the house but at a significantly reduced rent rate.

But try to get an agent/broker to reduce his or her commission, to actually negotiate it, and you would run into a brick wall virtually every time.

I'm not factoring revenue from selling the homes in to my analysis - my major concern is reducing operating costs.

I guess this is a perk of buying at the peak of rates now that the Fed wants to reduce rates in the near future.