. :)Personally I don't mind her house payment being fairly high, so long as it's not because of bad terms.

Most of the time they provide this service fairly cheap because they bank on getting the design work once a project happens.

But for now, I see a few things that seem fairly clear: 1.

Rentometer says $1000 is fair rent.

I know that these properties are fairly distressed and need a good bit of repair before they can go on the market.So my questions are:1. what's the best way to determine the cost of fixing up the property, particularly since i'm out of state and can't inspect it myself.

I know numerous people that do this (fairly) successfully.

Had he paid $80k that would have been the fair market he would have had a loan at a much higher rate than I charged due to his poor credit.

I plan to propose the following to them, and just walk away if they are not agreeable to it: -they write up the lease agreement as soon as possible and provide it to me; I'll review, sign and return it the next business day if all terms are agreeable; otherwise they find a new tenant -I give them a money order / cashier's check covering the sum of the full deposit and first month's rent on the same day I return the signed lease agreement The above proposal sounds fair to me.

I would appreciate confirmations that this is how it should go for 2008 tax purposes.If I have no luck finding tenants in late 2009 (hope that isn't the case), I wonder if I could rent the home to relatives at a fair market rent (same as I would charge any tenants) and still do my taxes as I would with any tenants?

This isn't a problem from a cash-flow standpoint or even an equity standpoint, the problem is with then lenders wanting skin in the game.