I would not give up hope but I would financially & emotionally plan on it being empty for an extra month.On the west coast you are not fighting against weather, just against busy-ness and distraction of the holidays.But I would argue that many people want to look when they have more down time the week between Christmas and New Years, if your PM is working. 

Is it as simple as just expressing that they 'need' a rehab to get their house ready and expecting that a certain population of sellers will disagree / argue with that assessment (which we would just move on to the next property)?

Not every deal works for every person but I find it very hard to argue against buying a multifamily for your first property.Hope that helps, best of luck.Eric 

You are using anecdotal evidence to counter argue my own anecodatal evidence.

Arguing over whether the plumbing was beyond its useful life and whether this was written down in some disclosure would be really ridiculousIf I were the seller and someone tried to do this to me I would harbour serious ill will towards them because I would consider it an attempt to shake me down not an attempt to receive something they are justly owed.I think having a good reputation among the community of Real Estate Investors is very valuable.

It could be" John Smith's" contracting or a company like "ABC Renovations".

In fact I would argue it is a good thing as we have a lender that says its cleaner and easier to get loans on properties that have not had a tax return filing because they use a simple formula instead of the schedule E. 

They usually still underwrite the loan, and they usually close with their own money.And a broker doesn't underwrite or use their money to close, they are just a middle man.So just to throw you into a further headspin...banks, credit unions, lenders, brokers can all fall under multiple categories.For example, let's say lender ABC is direct with Fannie, correspondent with Freddie, and brokers out FHA. 

seem to be arguing that to live there free for 12 months (at $2500/mo value), it's as if Ashley/Hubby are extracting $2500 per month of the partnership's equity, or a total of $30,000.

In fact, I would argue that good wholesalers negotiate contracts with the standard seller paid items.Second, why on earth would you want to do everything yourself next time?