Bump for OP

What we do is read the market and advise our clients on what we think will win the bid if there are multiple offers.To answer the OP, if there are no other offers on the table, I would suggest the DD and EMD be about 1% of the price. 

No, we've just added key team members as needed and run ops out of our 56 unit.

Of course, assumes OP's income isn't super high. 

great neighborhood obv 3yrs went by since the OP, but now the avg price is 585k in the neighb, i got a 2fam around Ocean ave and Bidwell around high 300s in 2018, planning to sell next month for mid 600s. 

Back in 2014, a mortgage appraiser valued the home at $85k, comparing the condo to an REO property and a co-op in another town since nothing in the complex had sold in a few years.

Also I pick up the coin op laundry money then on the two buildings that have it.

Agreed,Lot's of deals to be found in Ohio.Tougher nowadays but still enough to stay busy.Just to answer the OP's initial question also.Loosing on a deal in the first few years is risky business.When I first started investing in 2010 and back home in Australia, I built a large portfolio and fairly quickly.Lot's of debt...Monthly mortgages where costing me more than I was generating in income.It was a slow bleed so I decided to liquidate and move to cashflow friendly markets in the US (Specifically Ohio).In hindsight, those same properties if owned today would have made me millions in capital gain profits.So if you are looking for an appreciation play, make sure to have enough income from your W2 or other means to withstand the slow monthly bleed until the properties appreciate so much that you end up being in the green even tho you bled monthly.Again, very risky business IMO.Much success

Acting as GC and using licensed contractors will not result in the savings that the OP is seeing by use of unlicensed contractors.  

The buyer behavior described by the OP does not seem surprising at all.