You pay your agent at closing (think of it as an additional closing cost) Depending of the situation and of these options can be used by you and your agent to negotiate with the seller.

There are a lot of options out there.

What other options would be good?  

Assuming they're telling the truth what are my options.

I feel more at ease losing this deal and finding my client a better option.

Are there any options out there that won't tear away the margin on flips?

I updated the bathroom/porch in the spring, and am finishing construction on a 2-stall garage (the previous garage was basically a large shed that I could not fit much in).Moving forward I am considering one of the following options to put my money and build equity:1.

There's definitely the option to start on Shopify and then move to something more customizable later on. 

With your focus in using house hacking, Conventional or FHA loans would be your best options.

I guess my only other option is to add padlocks onto the cash boxes on top of the regular keyed entry.