It looked pretty good and the contractor thought the $35k rehab estimation in the NW packet was about right, so I wired in my $5000 deposit and received the contract to sign.

You can charge them a rent and sign a lease for 30 days max taking a deposit.

My agent is going to try to use it as leverage.2) the very dirty tenants downstairs has very recently signed a 2 year contract for only 1037/mo but I could easily go up to 1100-1200 which is the norm for a downstairs basement that area.

The lender I selected for my first SFR is aware of why I am buying the house and has priced it accordingly.

If they don't have final selections they are probably upping the allowances by quite a bit.

Should they have sellers coming to them by way of websites and bandit signs?

You can actually sign up for a free account to try it out to see if it will work for you.

@Derrick Gordon Just sent you my spreadsheet I use for estimating costs and selection of strategy for the property in question.

I signed on it last week and it was recorded on Friday with the understanding that the current renters would be out by "the end of the month"  I had to stop by to check a couple things out on Friday and nothing has been packed and there were no signs of people moving out.  

Currently we are helping land lease communities with their compliance burdens related to Fair Housing and ADA.I was appointed by the Governor of Illinois to set up and run the Illinois Manufactured Housing Quality Assurance Board, I was selected as the Manufactured Housing Industry Person of the Year(2013), my consulting company was selected as Service Supplier of the Year in 2011 by MHI (our national trade association), I have served three times on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Manufactured Housing Association and also served as Chairman in 2014, and have been the featured speaker over 200 times at industry events.