@Russell Fugitt, The QI's telling you to exercise caution in changing title immediately prior to a sale are giving you good advice.  

When the option is exercised, you want to 1031 the proceeds of the sale into another property.You also mention avoiding a big tax bill.As Dave Foster has already said, flip property is not eligible to participate in a 1031 exchange.  

I do about one day of work a week in order to cut costs but also for the exercise and experience.

So, the question now is what does the contract allow you to do about it and what will it cost you to exercise said remedies.

I like the way you handled it, realizing that chasing him for back rent would be an exercise in futility.

That money will come off the purchase price when they exercise the option to buy.

Good deals are hard to come by so exercise some patience but at the same time do not over analyze a deal.

You'll learn much from doing this and will have an opportunity to talk to your soon to be neighbors and will better understand values - get exercise and have fun meeting people.

Therefore if you found another buyer willing to pay more than your agreed price, you could exercise your option and sell it for a profit without ever owning the property.

Karen Barber wrote "I don't see a bad area in KC"@Karen, either your property manager is "The Rock" or you have never walked the streets of 34th and Prospect at night.Every city will have its good and bad areas but KC has some real dangerous areas of where you do not want to be - exercise caution.