Read Tip 5.Tip 5: Until you know the law and the market, you should hire a professional to handle the investment for you. i understand you can learn a lot from wasting 18 months to evict a non-paying tenant but you could spend 1/10th that amount hiring a professional and then learn through them.

The biggest waste of time I had as a broker, was suggesting properties to the potential buyer, and only afterwards hearing that they had this or that criteria that made this property a no go.Make clear, in as much detail as possible what your ideal property is, and secondarily, what you would buy.

Sometimes you find deal where the first R (rehab) is minimal or none and you can accelerate your growth.

Also, I suspect that going to battle over keeping them in the lease would just cost more in legal fees than it would recover and would not improve the situation.Would appreciate any suggestions on minimizing/eliminating breaking of lease in the future.

those renters may be wasting your valuable  time with the prospect of buying it .

Would be a good idea or just a waste of time?

I think the best approach is to not waste people’s time and treat people who do complete work for you well.

I wouldn't waste time waiting for payment from the tenant since bed bugs can spread.

I'm not a grue that charges for my experience but also do not waste my time looking for free advice.

If you can find a property with minimal broker assistance it's to your advantage on small MF.