Some will burn incense, scented candles, or use air fresheners to cover up the odor before you come in.

For example my local industrial market in Seattle is split generally into three distinct submarkets: Seattle, Kent Valley and Northern Submarkets (Everett, Arlington etc.) and brokers will generally specialize in one area.

Here is an excerpt (edited slightly by me) from an Appellate Court case in Connecticut that discusses the test:"If an agreement is personal, it cannot be said to have run with the land and thus cannot have bound the future grantee....For purposes of the distinction between real covenants (running with the land, or touching and concerning the land) and personal covenants, a covenant may run with the land or may be a matter between only the purchaser and grantor.

The 15 year loan will have less interest paid towards it over the life of the loan but the 30 year loan has some pretty distinct advantages. 

I know I was frazzled the day they came in with their sales pitch, but point was they were professional - we verbally discussed "staging apps for online photos" and "candles, scents" for showings.Come to find out; all that is for listings that are for sale, not rent.

If you wanted to offer on 5 homes at 90% of the asking price, I wouldn't be OK with it either.The distinction between your agent and myself is I would have taken the time up front to thoroughly educate you about the market, shown you some data to support it and agreed on a strategy together before we looked at any properties. 

Mike:I'm enjoying the back and forth and understand the position of considering all sources of capital/cash as the same from an "everyday practicality" position ... but, I'm not certain my, or your, accountant would agree.Perhaps it's my background with operational companies (software, telecommunications, etc), but there was always a distinction between earnings & cash flow from operations and capital raised through other means (debt, asset sales, judgements, etc).  

My thought it most of us in the real estate game are here for the distinct advantages real estate has to offer from cash flow, appreciation, inflation hedge, tax benefits, etc.

They're similar, but they have distinctions that should be explained by a lawyer, and I'm not one.Which one of them is easier for financing is a question for - you guessed it - a lender, and I'm not one, either.For tax purposes, partnerships and JVs are the same: a partnership.A partnership may choose a different form of taxation, such as an S-corporation, for some specific tax benefits down the road, as @Ashish Acharya referred to.

You are at a distinct advantage knowing the condition of the house, others won't be able to enter the property.I don't see why you would want to but you could try to buy it on CD however the seller isn't likely to sell it below their loan amount and you would likely have to catchup the loan payments to make this work.