A signed contract is a piece of paper.

Perhaps now he'll begin to look at things a bit differently..But, there is another interesting piece to be noted here.  

There is one thing I have learned from this site is that someone is always willing to lend an ear, hand, or voice.

As long as the title is clear, the worst thing that can happen is I have a piece of land for $23 a year.

If I baked in $10K for repairs in my offer and the house only needs $3K-$5K of work, I have no issues coming up on price if I think it will help the deal go smoother in one way or the other.It's not an exact science and is indeed the most difficult part of this whole venture, but with a little planning, being transparent to the seller, and someone to be your eyes/ears on the ground, it can be done.

One piece of advice: Stay AWAY from condos and townhouses for investments.  

Especially if you are willing to give up a piece of the deal -- which I think long term can be more advantageous as your investors are seeing you as a successful operator, more likely to invest more in the future..etc.

This usually is the result of public complaint at getting 50 to 200 mailing pieces, when they appear on the notice of default (or lis pendens) list. 

I like the 1x6, but it needs to be topped with some type of little trim piece.  

The basic run down for a hotel/B&B would be this...50% - 1st mortgage provided by bank30% - provided by SBA (SBA will go up to 40% but because it's a new business they add 5% & ding you for another 5% because it's a single purpose asset (hotel)).  20% - down from borrower Full Recourse for any borrower with 20%+ in equity stake The 50% bank piece term & rate are somewhat up to the bank with a few exceptions.