I've seen too many bank owned properties for sale that were a result of an investor who didn't have cash reserves to ride out a bad turn and wound up losing the whole property...

Yeah.. until the AOS is signed and the earnest deposit is received, there is nothing legally binding them to a verbal conversation or agreement.If they are willing to dump you for the new guy, you may be lucky that you got out of that deal.Lick your wounds, go on to the next one.

I rode it from Seatac to Seattle once, and I think it averaged 30 mph, and it wound through neighborhoods worse than a city bus. 

It will happen- just lick your wounds and try again.

So in the end, my decision wound up being a product of other problems.

I got my butt bit by the crash and went into a corner to lick my wounds.  

We wound up paying 7k. 

The construction on the new units started and we found out that we underestimated the market on these and wound up fetching an $850 per month in rent instead of the $800.

It finally sold in late April (snafu with 1st buyer who backed out, grrrrr), and I wound up holding it for 7 months.  

@Eddie Gonnella I wound up going conventional 20% down, but acquired a property in better condition (to satisfy the conventional lender).