Did a home equity loan to pay for the water & sewer lines, removing knob and tube, some new flooring and some plumbing fixes. 

Usually a 1 to 1 or 1.25 is standard..or the $1k needs to be sufficient to cover the PITI of the proposed loan.

Check to see if they are well and septic or city water and sewer.

This should not be crossing into the below legal standards.  

You must set standards and stick to them or tenants will walk all over you.Another example of a lazy person living off the taxpayer's dime and then acting entitled.

@Chloe Hohman  Agree with Nicolas, I don't see any money for you in this deal.Even if you could put down $50k, and financing $200k, with a standard 30 year 7.5% mortgage, your mortgage payments would be $1400 per month. 

Standard construction issues caused their project to push out a few months and California real estate being as strong as it is, my house sold in a minute.

A lot of the fees will include all of your utilities including electric, internet, water & sewer etc..

This ensures the property is secured, heat or A/C is adjusted, all water is off, and they do an initial inspection to see what they are dealing with.

What is the standard practice in terms of amount and terms?