And if we don't hit a homerun at our first at bat then we failed.

I was left with an excessive water bill ($10k) at my 4-unit property as they failed to fix a water leak, which I complained about once I noticed a spike in the water bill.

Most new flippers lose money on their first few deals because they fail at one or more of these.

Sounds like you are trying to do a Lease with Option to Purchase.This requires 3 separate documents:1) Lease2) Option Contract3) Purchase contract triggered when tenant enacts Option Contract.National statistics show that around 65% of Lease-Options fail.

The way we do it:  The moment you pay the holding fee (the dollar amount is one month's rent), $500 of it is non-refundable if you back out and fail to enter into a lease, take possession, etc. 

@Michael Baum Where did I say "Everyone will fail"?

They have failed to pay and I need to foreclose on them. 

They test it out and the listings will jump back and forth until they settle on what they want.Hopefully Vrbo will realize pretty quickly that this is turning into an epic fail.

If you’re just starting out Can you put down 20-30% and finance all the remodel so if you fail he doesn’t lose his shirt?

We are looking to do this versus a home office deduction, which we probably wouldn’t qualify for anyway (would fail the exclusive clause).I’m sure this question has been covered before in the forums, but I can’t seem to locate a specific thread on this topic.