Taking a down payment, taking rents, hoping or diverting a buyer to failure, talking the property back, then rinse and repeat as Lonnie use to say is illegal conduct now!  

I am currently combining a HELOC with hard money to conduct a flip.

Many transactions are hammered quietly too, do this or else and the accused party does that instead of getting hammered publicly.Ethics is not what an individual might define for themselves, it is a standard of conduct accepted in an industry that allows limited deviations from the norm.

@Dean HulsingOnce you understand the environment in which the business operates (local tenant population, average rents, physical and economic vacancy rates, the growth / decline of the local economy, the risk of the local economy (i.e. does most of the tenant population work for a single (cyclical, declining, growing) employer)), then you can compare the business (property) to its peers and evaluate its shortcomings and potential.After the above, you should be able to put a value on the business and, if it looks to be a profitable, long term venture, issue a Letter of Intent (LOI) with your offer and deal framework,  If accepted, you then dig-in and conduct the formal diligence.

Unless the sale was improperly conducted, the bank doesn't have a legit reason to cancel.

References and background checks should be conducted on all employees.

You can actually schedule conference calls with reps from each company to show you hard data so you can make that determination yourself.

Conduct lease audit and make sure all documents are there (application, lease, proof of income, proof of payments for security deposit etc.) 

In the Big Four, they have overseer attorneys who ratify the conduct of their accountants, which completely removes the UPL status.ADDENDUM: After having read Title XX, Rule 200 of the U.S.

How often should I plan on having to meet face to face with my attorney, or can most of our business be conducted via phone/email?