Fingers crossed I can find a small duplex or mother in law soon (my goal is to do my first deal by end of Dec).

Finger crossed...

if it's less than one or two days of your income, a letter reminding them of some of the legal conditions your state requires for charging you and cross your fingers(use less than two hours of your time)....if they are going for the whole deposit, small claims court and all the preparation that entails(pictures, quotes, statements, documentation, etc), could be up to a week of your time, combined How much time will it take to get what amount of money?

Whoops, fat fingered the Post Reply button.

Cross your fingers and hope she finds a place quickly.

But be honest with yourself..... was it really inspected and ready to rent or did you overlook some stuff and cross your fingers as it being "good enough"?

I purchased a duplex exactly a year ago for $209,000 and it is closing tomorrow at 12pm (fingers crossed) for $248,650. 

This is the route I'm taking and I believe at the worst case, the experience I get will help me on my next deal if the first one comes crashing down for some reason (fingers cross it won't happen) and at least I won't have too much equity in it.

Fingers crossedI know I did not answer all questions but I hope this helps.

Haven't used it yet but planning on using shortly.... fingers crossed.