There are other ways to get your offer accepted that can be appealing to the buyers like non-refundable deposits, higher deposit amounts, shorter timelines and others.

Is it possible to charge 1 day worth rent/utilities or take from deposit?

Legal Mistakes Can Lead to Lawsuits or Tenant ClaimsTexas has landlord-tenant laws on security deposits, repairs, evictions, and fair housing compliance.If you mishandle security deposits, maintenance requests, or notices, your friend could get sued or be forced to compensate tenants.Evictions require proper legal procedures.

I called a lender yesterday and they said if I had someone sign a lease with a deposit down I could use that income towards my new loan.

For all multi-family properties we always handle the lawn care as there are common areas so we can't expect the tenants to care for it.When sending the security deposit claim we state the additional cost that is owed for damages even if the entire security deposit is claimed for other damages.

.💰 Financing is available—10% rates, $10MM+ loans, and builder deposits covering 10-15%—so how are you structuring your deals to minimize out-of-pocket costs and secure takeout contracts?

I have funded a few deals that came through them and my client did very poorly with them.U can use them for a lead source but UBER caution on your Due diligence and I would not let them talk you into the upfront non refundable deposits.. your not getting it back :(

I've never had an issue. we don't get security deposits or sign any leases.

This typically means a licensed property manager.That being said, we took 7 holding deposits last week on our 26 available rental properties, and the weather has gotten above freezing for a couple of days last week. 

Quote from @William Hochstedler: Utah has been booming for the past decade by every metric. my kids did deposits on ski condos at Park City  NEW development and one at Brianhead and those things shot up like crazy.. they need to keep it up so they can take good care of me in my waining years.