You have bank economists, politicians, and, of course, the media, talking about "the new normal" and any correction being a gentle "soft landing".... sound familiar?

The problem I have with this deal is he's not a real motivated seller, is a soft touch running out for 50% of value, not a good businessmanWhat I would do is to sell him on an installment sale at about 50% of market rend payment, divide 750 into the sales price

Buying a property for 15%-20% below market value (I'm presuming you mean ARV) does not leave any margin for profit for you after your rehab costs plus all of the "soft" costs.

This "developer" is an individual investor, who has developed a few houses on his own.The original plans were for the construction of either apartments or condos, and I think the developer's intent is to come up with new, realistic numbers (hard & soft), and determine if the market supports the margins. 

It had some golden nuggets in there that I'm trying to soft through.

We had a "soft" money lender do a presentation on how his company loans to investors all over the country and how their rates are much more reasonable than a hard money lender.  

7k is ridiculous i have a distributor acct and can get a kitchen done for $1500-3000 solid wood soft close cabinets.

The best scenario is for the EMD to stay soft until you have removed both your DD contingency and your loan contingency. 

Make sure drawers and doors have a soft close feature as this will also increase the lifetime that the cabinets will last (in addition to protecting kids fingers)Lastly I would splurge a bit on the back splash.  

What I would ask this soft-hearted landlord/seller for is a notice of intent to enter if the tenant won't show the house willingly.