I've got a good amount of contractors I use for our long term buy & holds with heavy reno's up front. 

They can have a hard time coming from value add assets and having made a good amount of money to now placing it in an asset with fixed rents and a percentage return but nothing else.These tend to be better suited to retirees, those that have been active but now want passive, high income earners that want a set it and forget it approach,etc. 

They legally have to have this document filled out if they pay you more than a certain amount over the period of 12 months.

The buyer representation agreement states that the buyer commission amount offered by the seller (usually 2% to 3%) is credited/refunded to the buyer.

Risk goes hand in hand with the amount of money you stand to make.  

And as you say it's an UNKNOWN amount, because it's a %. 

Definitely a longer amount of time between lead generation and closing and more resistance from sellers to go under contract with a wholesaler but it is definitely possible.

There is an abnormally low amount of new construction occurring on the coast in comparison to the demand and the existing inventory can be quite dated, especially for those coming from areas like California.

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

Perhaps we "buy" the house from them for the $328K balance to satisfy the lender and don't need a large down payment and then have a separate contract with them to pay $x per month until we've paid the full $172K amount.