So it's possible that the assignee might decide to cut his losses and forfeit the fee amount he already paid in.Regardless of why this might happen (which is really immaterial), the questions I should have asked are:How frequently (percentage of a wholesaler's deals) does it happen that a buyer backs out of the assignment, andWhen it does, how successful are you in pursuing the alternatives mentioned in Dustin Heiner's article?

Alternatively, this can be sent to collections (creditor transferring the responsibility of collecting debt to a third-party agency). 

New investors can go at there own pace, build relationships, and get better deals on materials and labor. 

Agreed with @Theresa HarrisGet a contractor recommendation (or multiple) from your friend and reach out to GCs yourself to have a couple of quotes and ideas for the renovation project.During the walkthroughs, you can pick the contractor's brain regarding pricing on different material grades, efficient layout ideas, etc.

That would be a very good alternative to multifamily. 

I noticed on Zillow that asbestos was listed as a building material, but I didn't pay attention to it until my insurance agent mentioned it.

Anyone else invested with their Fidelity IRA into an alternative investment recently that I can look into the fund to see if it might be right for myself?

I requested copies of the income taxes for them both and it looks like this could be a pretty good deal but I'm not sure how much he spends on materials to keep them running as that was not included in his "financial report" (which was a piece of paper with number written for utilities).

Alternatively, they can sign a new lease and save a lot of money.

But over a long enough investing period the numbers should more or less balance themselves out and become fairly reliable.As Bruce pointed out, the alternative is to buy and remodel a piece of crap house.