Maybe he was just trying to not leave money on the table.

HOWEVER, I do believe these buildings are unique in that these tenants are tightly knitted and I got the feeling I will be upsetting the entire building if I had to evict one person.

Basically they named the price that they want to walk away from closing with and expectation is I cover the net difference.My question is this: while I am pretty certain that the closing costs will comprise of the typical costs (attorneys fees, title fees, etc), should I be protecting myself from any unknown closing costs that may be a surprise when I get to the table, by way of language in our written contract?

It's more effort to find 3 tenants, but you get a premium for your efforts.If you want to try this, contact me and I can share all of the special stipulations that we have developed over time that seem to be effective to put into the lease to make sure we keep the peace in this unique situation.Another option to consider?

Perhaps we left some money on the table. but it was worth it to have a firm contract and quick close.We paid $82K for the lot a year ago.

I went to a HUD round table a few months ago and they discussed making one asset manager or at least making them all do the same policies.

There were other sellers that I felt weren't, I'll say "on top of it" or unique situations where I wanted more assurance of control.The contractor did about 60 or so homes (he finally got smarter, made enough money to do things on his own) and set up his own operation and branched out as well.Risks, if you don't know what you're doing you can lose, need to do the same assessments as if you bought the house, so there are those issues.The only risk associated with the owner is dying or being unable to continue, that's really only a holding cost or time matter as that can be managed.Never had an owner try to pull out, a few lost interest, but none backed out.

Either I am in a unique situation or people just flat out lie about how easy they were able to get a loan and what their credit situation is.

My circumstances are quite unique and I'd be grateful for any advice.I'm a UK resident currently spending more and more time in the US as my business (not real-estate related) develops over here.

Do lots of reading on tenant screening, and treat all tenants the same - whether Section 8 or not.As posted by others, the Housing Authority only checks the tenants for eligibility for the Section 8 program, and even in doing so they miss things (like income earned "under the table").