In order to get the house under contract he wants me to give him a $2,000 nonrefundable deposit,commit to paying the remainder of the balance owed for the property, regardless of reassigning Of the property.

@Meng Chang you are clearly very uncertain on this, and not fully committed to real estate or REI. 

Building relationships with investors, finding those you can help, and getting soft commitments is best done before you have a deal.

Check around before you commit, to make sure you can refi at that number.

So maybe you approach it from the perspective of she gets to work on it but cap her time commitment on it (i.e. you step in after 5 hours a week or something like that).

Tough lesson, but never commit to buying anything if you don't know the price.   

I would just note that it's important to be realistic about how much time you can commit as an active investor. 

I may consider this in the future, but right now, the applicants pay zero until we have reviewed the application and are seriously considering them.In your case, you are already half way committed it seems. 

Lastly, If you were in your 20s what are the first steps you'd advice your former self to consider before committing to the real estate community as a career path?

@Kayla Oliver-PrattIf she “commits waist” to the property she should be able to be evicted.