The fact that I put that fee on the Credit cards and had that monthly payment staring in my face every month, pressured me to come home after work scrutinize my marketing, practice my sales pitch on my wife, read/watch persuasion books/lectures and just be non-stop until I started getting leads.

Wow, you really do make a persuasive argument!

The question was; if I were to locate the perfect candidate, how would I go about approaching them in the most polite, professional, but also firm and persuasive manner possible?

Like you, the area is zoned for 2 family and no amount of persuasion will get in zoned for three.

There is a lot to read between the lines and it really comes down to your effectiveness in communication and persuasion:1) Accepting Your Own Mistakes: Start an honest discussion, maybe accepting some responsibility at first for whatever you may have done that caused a hiccup in the project (no matter how small or insignificant it is in comparison to their delays or mistakes). 2) Offering Help: Then ask 'What can I do to help out?'

I agree with the comments above about getting the command involved (they can be very persuasive) if payment becomes an issue, but I think you will find that payment is not a big issue with military folks.They have always left the house in good shape with no damage and there is typically very little interaction between us; they don't ask for much and don't cause any problems.

There may be a particularly pernicious debtor who has gone "Ruby Ridge" and unable to deal with their problems rationally and detach from a property.Ultimately, time and Mother Nature will solve any problem that is not resolved by persuasion, courts or non-judicial sale.

Push yourself to learn how to read people and situations quickly, and become good at persuasion.

I am not a persuasive writer, my posts are not written to bring anyone over to any personal point of view.

Because that just means you'll have to do the numbers more diligently and exercise your negotiation/persuasion skills.