The end result was he didn't sell, kept it till two years ago when both my parents deceased, and it was sold for $1.1 million.A few years ago, a neighbor was planning to move to Florida, another neighbor heard about it, offered him $450K.

It's why if I had $1m, I wouldn't buy a $1m property -- I'd buy a $5m property with 20% down (and later try to get it refinanced with a $6m+ valuation to get my $1m back to RWR (Rince Wash Repeat -- can I trademark that?).  

You can wash off small marks and scuffs and still spot touch up without it being obvious.

Investors paid too much, underestimated property taxes (some areas over 3%), overestimated rents, and forgot to hold reserves for events like a washing machine overflowing and ruining all the floors (that was in a newspaper article about Cal. investors going bust).

Wash, rinse, (tweak), repeat.

After extensive wash down with bleach and other cleaners, seal walls and floors to seal in any contamination.

I will be and paying for all the materials and original cost of the property I would like the percentage to be fair.His thought was he found the listing and should be compensated for the find.My thought is I have the cash and that equals his find for the listing.We signed a purchase agreement together and are stuck trying to work out this percentage.We either agree on a percentage or walk from the deal, were set to close in one week.

Bobby the real estate market cycles locally in every market.There are average times that this takes place.For example so long for the market to be stable,so long for the market to increase,and so long for the market to decrease until it hits rock bottom.The pluses right now are lots of motivated sellers in many markets.They held out for a few years thinking things will get better.Now they have accepted it will be a long haul and are ready to sell.Holding out for 2 or 3 years is one thing but 7 to 10 years is too long for many for a property to recover.The plus side is interest rates are low and pricing is great.The downside is liquid capital needed for a regular loan is steep as loan underwriting is tight.If you wait lending might relax with less down but interest rates might rise along with sellers expectations of selling price so you would be at a wash or worse then when purchasing now.The name of the game is too hold onto cash and leverage into a good deal.In the down cycle you buy up as much as possible.

Crazy part was he made the payments on all the loans for two years!

He has no idea who it was. He