In union city on 15th st and central ave area a new single family with a 2 ping pong table sized garden just went up for 850k+. come on, who in their right mind would buy that, ridiculous prices. from my greenville house the lightrail is literally 5-10min walk, can almost see the WTC from the windows.

What value would or could a contractor bring to the table other than just labor?.

You can set a minimum income, but in many places, including California, you can't discriminate against where that income is coming from (provided its over the table).

If he says he is willing to accept $25k, does he have $35k to bring to the table at closing to pay off his loan?

Congratulations on passing the exam.The best way to figure out what they can offer is to simply ask.Call them up, tell them what you bring to the table and see what they bring to the table.

Can electronic signatures be done at any closing table?

A week before closing I get the email from my partner that was sent to him from the lending company that because the appraisal came back lower than expected, now we have to come to the table with forty five hundred more dollars. where as before they said we only needed 2,000. to close. the realtor showed the comps coming in at 135 to 140.000. so we didn't have the extra cash so we lost our earnest deposit and money wasted on the appraisal.

I'm open to something like that, but I'm not really sure what I could bring to the table on something like that, since I have no time, not a lot of money, and no expertise. :)Anybody have any suggestions/ideas for me? 

I can't imagine a french drain working because there is no lower point to run it to.  

Don't think that 15% down means all you have to bring to the table because you will have all of the closing costs on top of that number just to get the property in your name.