It's hard to give any sort of advice without knowing your full story, but do you have the ability to make more in income? 

I have my experience working with my network and now the ability to bring fulltime work ethic and time dedication to ensuring success.I have been building my business plan with the goal of drumming up private investment or partnering with somebody that has the cash to get started. 

One thing you'll need to look into is how would having a mortgage on the rental in SC effect your DTI and your ability to qualify for a mortgage?

Bringing old places back to life is one of the most satisfying elements of the job for me :)

Next it is just sitting down and following that plan to the best of your ability until you have reached your goal.

Call the broker and find out they slide papers in front of the owner that they know nothing about giving them the ability to rent or use the property during the short sale while they are out of the property. 

Simply keep the deposit, send them a bill for breaking the lease and outlining that you took it out of the deposit.You can't keep the deposit because they break the lease. 

I've been hearing bits of information about Minnesota passing a Bill that will limit my ability to conduct a thorough background check.

Hope I can help, and if you have any other questions I will gladly answer them to the best of my abilities.

Much of how you negotiate your inspection items depends on how the home was listed, what, if any, restrictions you placed on your ability to ask for things in the contract, and how many bids were received.