I have one who doesn't want to lose the property, so he wants to paypal me the security deposit site unseen (and first month rent if necessary).

I asked him to send a proposal and he sent the following email later this afternoon: “the cost to do roof with doing east side and west side ,(except for west rear side), complete tearoff and redeck and reroof with dimensional shingles and peak roof vent system and new gutters (,no downspouts), in same areas. will b 11,800.00 will need 4000.00 deposit upon start , balance due upon completion.

I will make an example to see if this fits your scenario- The realtor sets an automatic daily search in the MLS with your parameters and you get a daily email with a link to properties - When you find a property that looks good to wholesale you call the agent and provide him the deposit check, proof of funds and the conditions of your offer, he makes the offer in your name (for example on 100,000$)- The listing agent presents the offer to the owner- If the owner accepts your offer, you calculate the price for reselling the contract (let's say 110,000$) and you start looking for investor to assign your contract- You find an investor and agree a price (let's say 105,000$) and to close in the established day according to the contract you have- If the investor is willing to use your agent, then he will represent the buying side and the listing agent will split the commission with your agent (typically 3% for the listing brokerage and 3% for your agent's brokerage), which is transparent to you because the seller is the one who pays that to the listing agent.- Then you will pay part of your assignment fee to the realtor, according with your agreement (30% of 5,000$ = 1,500$ if you found the investor or 70% of 5,000 = 3,500$ if the realtor find the investor) There can be an issue - Probably the investor has his own Realtor to handle his purchases, in that case you will need to figure out something mutually agreed with your Realtor, because he and his Brokerage will not get his split of the commission from the listing agent at contract closingAnyone has a comment about this?

From what I've read seems like they require a 1k deposit and then give you 30 days to "close" is that accurate? 

Get some sort of high deposit so they don't trash the place and KEEP INSURANCE ON IT.

I wanted a 2 year lease/option contract at the time because I was not expecting the tenant to be able to perform in any period shorter than that and my goal was to actually offload the property, not just put them into impossible terms and keep the deposit.

Plumbing and a boiler aren't little things...This doesn't sound right and if you can get your EMD ( Ernest Money Deposit ) back I would and find a new realtor as well. 

I know it's not a good idea to rent to friends/family but I naively thought it'd be fine.It is NOW, but it was touch and go when he moved out due to some difference of opinion on damages and rental deposit refund.

I will play around with the spreadsheet and calculator and report back. quick question- I would assume that the security deposit should not be included in any calculations?

I am about to start my first mysmartmove application and it asks for the deposit amount but beside it says (per month).