When you are new and have no deals under your belt, it is not an easy task to convince strangers to trust you with their money and in the cases where the borrower has no money to put   up, the situation is even more difficult as you have to borrow over 100% of the cost to make it happen.

They choose one with low rates or a shiny website or a fancy office or based on the recommendation of a friend or stranger on BP and just assume everything will work out.

A bunch of strangers on the internet can't do the thinking required to figure out the opportunity cost for him. 

Especially being that the owner is willing to pay a stranger $100 an hour with forming any type of relationship.

I am a traveling PT and have lived with strangers my whole career.

Seems crazy that it wouldn't have sold but stranger things happen.  

Aside from the normal concerns of letting a stranger stay with you… business people are busy people or they’re done with being busy and value their freedom.

In a market that's quickly becoming saturated differentiation is key.As Phil Knight said in Shoe Dog: "When you add some new thing or service to the lives of strangers, making them happier, or healthier, or safer, or better, and when you do it all crisply and efficiently, smartly, the way everything should be done but so seldom is - you're participating more fully in the whole grand human drama.

I've had strangers ask me for advice, just like you. 

So you are not a total stranger and should have an easy conversation.If you can't afford the property, you can find a partner or wholesale it.