Presently the actual tiles are cracked, not just the grout lines.

Ben,Best way to find partners and or funding for deals is to have a deal to present to folks on this site. 

How should I go about presenting the offer and getting it under contract?

It’s networking and educational group that has local investors or certain area specialists present at each meeting.http://www.reapsweb.com/ - Has annual dues of about $250, first meeting is free.

Present it to them like its a way to collect the money that would be their "rent" monthly without being a landlord and not having to do anything except sit back and collect for 10 years.

Remind them of that when you are presenting your final offer.If they balk,walk out on them and let time eat at them a little and then give them a hard deadline to accept the deal.Never let a seller know how much you really want the property.Make them really want to sell it to you.

Question: When going the holding deposit route, do you present them the lease before they pay the holding deposit?

@James McCarthy,I'm not sure why you haven't moved out at lease renewal, but going to court isn't as scary or expensive as you thinkGoing to court involves a few steps to standardize your presentation and argument, but really it's nothing more than paying the filing fee and going in front of a neutral person to resolve a conflict.

A stupid land owner can sell his land for cheap just by the way you present your cost.

If your numbers are right and presented appropriately you won't have to convince anyone to be a part of it.