The seller had recently lost her husband.

Certain areas are being over-run and ruined by fleeing Californians, but in general, we haven’t lost our minds....yet.

At some point, you should consider buying rent default insurance that will reimburse you a portion of your lost rental income and legal expenses when a tenant defaults. 

I TRIED PROSPER WHEN FIRST CAME OUT , I THINK I LOST ABOUT $ 30% OF MY Principal . i only invested about $1,500 while learning how it worked , tried to stay with the a-c credit loans , but did a few d's as well .i am now on realty shares and have done pretty well there , i have only been on a year , but so far so good .

I am from Washington State, not DC, but I don't think there are any differences preventing you from doing what I would do...I would get some money for holding the place for them for 15 days, if they cancel and didn't have a non-refundable "HOLD" deposit, you just lost 15 days that could have been rented to someone else.

.-  It covers lost rent, but obviously only up to the coverage limit that I selected.-  My damage list is what is used. 

It seems like taking advantage of depreciation and all of the tax benefits of real estate are lost if your income is >$150k, unless you are a "real estate professional", right?

In all respect, I don’t see any lost time value of time in this.

@Mike Dymski  OK you lost me.. 

I went to city to pull permits for renovation, I came to know that the current zoning is Single family.As the utilities are not there on the property for more than six months, the City saysit lost its grandfather clause as Multi family.Through attorney, I have applied for variance to continue as Multi.I have the city hall meeting on October 1st.I would appreciate if any one has any advice on how to present at the city hall.ThanksTSReddy