Maybe he will agree on lower it a bit. and worst thing that could happen you don't get the deal, ( no worries) their Millions of houses. move on and polish your skills, and with that, one day you will become valuable to an investor that will be willing to partner with you.Wish you the best, and I acknowledge you for taking action, I assume you are desperate for your dreams to come quick, but like Warren Buffet Said :“You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”Develop that Baby, and you will see him one-day giving fruits...Regards 

The plan was to either buy through a short sale or just do the short sale process through a title company / listing and worst case there would be commission for sale.

I’ve always found the worst part isn’t my inability to stand up... to be honest I find it to be a mix of amusing and embarrassing.

So if you are wrong then you wasted 3-4yrs waiting on nothing and then have to buy at even worst prices.  

As the saying goes, buy the worst house on the best block. 

I had a pretty good 401 k build up when dummy me went in with a partner and thought it would be a good idea to open a bar.Well that was the worst experience of my life .

Worst case is that he under estimates you and you play him. 

We own 8 units in the neighborhood that roadsnacks.net just dubbed the 2nd worst 'hood in Akron (I think they're wrong about that, but it's at best a "C-" neighborhood).

I make 26k a year and could eat the cost of the monthly expenses of the property in the worst case scenario.

Worst case scenario- list them at 1700 and cut the price after 2 weeks if no solid potential tenants apply.