Some can sell off employee stock options or sell their practice and are retained on with salary.

You all have me thinking ....Since I have a full side lot on the house with a 2 car garage on it that was partially finished for a rental by a previous owner, what about splitting the lots, selling the house for a bit less now and building a single family home on the lot I retain.

i.e. you buy the property directly from the seller and they continue to make mortgage payments while you retain the deed? 

What are your thoughts on viability/approach to the below:Is it unreasonable to find a property levered 80% debt, 20% down payment that generates a cash-on-cash return of approx. 12% and annual appreciation of approx. 3% while using the following estimates:- 1/12 months vacancy, - 10% of total rent for CAPEX, - 10% of total rent for property management, - 1% of property value for taxes, - 1% of property value for insurance, and- Misc. expense retainer of 10%?

Attorney's in Miami want a 10k upfront retainer before they will even speak to you.

I believe this has helped me retain half of the rentals for the succeeding year because the students have had very bad experiences with property managers in the area.  

There are a few other ways to cancel a contract and retain your earnest depending on your situation. 

That is some very powerful leverage with you doing some muscle to get the engine running instead of buying the deal.Yes 40-50% is a wise suggestion.

My question for you today is due to the fact that we haven't settled on a syndication attorney yet--we're still in the initial phase before we go through that process and potentially have one on retainer.

Retain all records including emails, voicemails, contemporaneous notes you took, the MLS listing description (and print/save it before the agent can edit incriminating evidence out), contracts - everything.This is a mess.