Maybe this is to assure them of said purchase price desired and not wasting their time showing me homes in this range. 

I also like the "sure thing " (as sure as one can get) of the principle protection of real estate versus other investment vehicles such as the stock market.

So where I am still confused is this: If you are renting a property that doesn't have a move-in date until a month later, how is the tenant ever assured that they won't be ripped off by handing over the deposit in the meantime??

I was pretty much assured to test the waters at the Real Estate related companies plugging new graduates into cubes in the early 2000’s.

Though I wear a t shirt with machine guns on it daily (my other business), I assured her I was a professional investor, that I honored my word, and that I was offering her a solution to her problem and would help resolve all the stress surrounding the house and her divorce.

One of my key concerns is how to best structure such an arrangement while keeping in mind that I need to assure myself that the construction process is moving in the proper direction in order to secure the investment.  

We only made the decision to use Deal B as the primary residence after the lender assured it was OK and the numbers made sense with the interest rate and closing costs they quoted.

Selling agent assures seller that these items won't cost much to fix (sure) and pushes them to agree.

We knew it was trashed on inspection, but they assured us they were getting paid.

I periodically called and was assured the work would begin on time.