This makes me think its sat for reasons unrelated to price, but if your comfortable with all the above and its location then tie it up and do your due diligence. 

I need to come up with a good strategy for tying up this property while managing holding costs & risk (both the risk that market shifts drastically and the risk that I lose the seller)CONTEXT: I'm an investor in Bergen County, NJ - my direct mail turned up an owner who plans to move out of state at the end of the school year (she's a teacher retiring).

Some people swear by it and I encourage them to do Fix & Flips because it makes them feel better and it ties them up doing "busy work" so I can find the real deals. ;-) Also, I think the market is changing (I know a lot of people don't agree with me and that is fine) and those techniques are ideal when the market changes, I always react "contrarian" to the market and I've made a lot of money doing so.I don't think that it is that people don't agree with you - it is that we don't believe you. 

9)How will my hand tattoo (fully covered hand) affect me while looking to tie my license to a brokerage?

Now, the "LLC police" aren't watching over your every move, so at times, the ability to bring suit can be a stronger case.

When this happens than you end up tied to your loan documents as they are written – no leeway unless you want to pay for a modification, if they might even consider one.

I don't belong to David Lindahl's organization and have no ties to them.I would also agree that your PM is soooooooooooo important to implement your plan. 

So if you put your 16K, 10K or whatever it is into an already updated, up to date, turnkey rental property, which could also be cash flow positive (or neg I guess), your money will be tied up until it appreciates on its own, or general market rents appreciate over time.

If a cash buyer comes in and offers less money than you but waives all of the inspections and contingencies, a seller will see that as a stronger offer because it is more likely to get to closing.

Tie to sell...especially those homes that have chickens in the living room and a dog kennels in the back bed room...