I just do not see any rational/benign reason for them charging so much in deposit up front considering that the house has not sold for 6+ months and I will be able to close relatively fast. 

I can say I've moved to STL about 5 yrs ago and I was at the gym right by the McDonalds/ Lindell Blvd area you're talking about and I feel safe and have not run into any issues there.St Louis is street by street - it really depends.You'll be able to rent it fast there due to it's location, I'm certain.

.- Because of these incentives, only integrity and care for one's long-term reputation hold syndicators back from just raising as much as possible, as often as possible, and deploying the capital as fast as possible.

How fast were we supposed to act on this?

I've got one program that my fast flippers like for its 'no seasoning' requirement, and then a few 90-day seasoning programs that work really well also.Occupancy: some programs can refinance vacant properties, while others will simply need it to be leased prior to closing.

So I feel the seller wants to sell it so fast. 

Overall, we’ll definitely tackle this problem as fast as we can.

Just make sure your PM has excellent accounting practices in place as trust accounting can get out of control fast.

I'm under LOI to acquire my first LIHTC property (107 units in semi-rural south Chicago suburb) and am moving fast and furious to get up to speed on all things LIHTC.  

again, maybe you find something on the MLS that is mispriced, and so it works, but i doubt you'd be able to move fast enough to lock it down, since you're so far away.