No lease no proof even with a lawyer they will be hard pressed.   

Assuming they don’t want bad press or to own a home, they’ll just take another of the options...https://www.experian.com/blogs...We are in a huge bull market for housing  I assume anyone who is in financial trouble will sell, put a bunch of cash in their pocket and either downsize or become a renter.

It's my butt in a chair in front of my computer, leaning into my monitor with my spreading gut pressed up against my desk, going through public records to find the prices that similar places nearby actually sold for, looking at pictures of these places wherever I can find them, utilizing my understanding of the neighborhoods I know in my target area.The right place for me to start from was to shoot for is a range.

Keep pressing on through the obstacles and keep asking yourself "How can I make this work?"

We are 3 months into this, designer say she does not negotiate her rate (which in fairnes we are not, just the billable hours) and the bill is overdue, she keeps pressing my wife for payment.

But a more pressing concern is reliable consistent employment.

In summary, since most sellers cannot afford to lose such valuable time off the market, and unless the binder deposit is valuable enough to where the seller feels it may be worth pursuing, or unless the seller really is not too hard pressed to sell their property and/or can afford to keep it off the market, my conclusion is that binder deposits may not add as much protection to property sellers or property buyers alike as I once thought they used to.

@Jason Malabute, keep your head up and press on. 

Other than local commercial banks, Greystone has historically been financing MF projects per their website press release.

Either they have a pressing real estate problem or they don't: You're job is to determine which one it is, as quickly and painlessly as possible!