I feel like marking up repairs is paying twice.

My markup is always lower than the original lender's because I don't spend money advertising during the Super Bowl, my president doesn't have a corporate jet, and we don't have layers of management we need to pay.

So, you want to watch tenant credit scores, see the default chart below: FICO Score Pct of Population Default Probability 800 or more 13.00% 1.00% 750-799 27.00% 1.00% 700-749 18.00% 4.40% 650-699 15.00% 8.90% 600-649 12.00% 15.80% 550-599 8.00% 22.50% 500-549 5.00% 28.40% Less than 499 2.00% 41.00% PROPERTY VALUES: What are buyers willing to pay for a property? 

"Pay me when my work is done.

DSCR or Fannie/Freddie loans can go up to 75% on single family homes, multi family homes (2-4 unit) max at 70% if you stick with Fannie/Freddie.Other things to consider would be:Paying points for a lower rate vs higher rate with no pointsIf going DSCR - Prepayment penalty term (0-5 years)The lower the loan size ($200-250k and lower), you should consider paying up to 2 points and doing a 5 year prepayment penalty if going DSCR.

As noted, commission are always negotiable as are brokerage options (full service to discount companies that pretty much just post it on the MLS and you work with all calls, offers, etc) and an agent can go over likely net out scenarios with you and give you an idea what you likely will be able to net after closing expenses and paying off the mortgage balance. 

In the “old” days, people would have the seller pay the lender so as to not “alert” the lender that a property sale had taken place, so that the lender def wouldn’t trigger the so called “due on sale” that’s a part of almost every mortgage or deed of trust document.  

It seems like you’d get at least an extra $100/mo and it would pay for itself.

He’s to pay us $36,000 immediately and we.

You shouldn't be paying any lender anything before a closing.