The RE Contract more seller-friendly.My first offer to sellers (especially off-market) is a simple Letter of Intent that outlines a few scenarios I would be willing to purchase.  

If you find out the tenant rekeyed, slap him with whatever charge you (hopefully) had outlined in your lease. 

This is more accurate in the short run, estimations in or of the future will effect the value obviously, but most take the simplified approach Sean outlined.

@Peter@Peter Aziz Peter great outline - thank you.

If I invest in each of my own syndications, I could do 2, maybe 3 deals like the one I outlined in my OP.

Hi @Lisa Craig,The State of Michigan has pretty straightforward rules regarding security deposits, you should reference this document: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/publications/tenantl...Refer to Page 8 and 9, it outlines exactly what you need to do if you want to withhold any portion of the security deposit to cover.

Is that something that has to be outlined in initial leasing options when getting a new tenant in?

Just something so they know what to expect so they are not contacting you when the bushes aren't trimmed every week.If you have the tenant responsible I recommend clearly outlining in your lease or lease addendum what the expectations are for them as far as landscaping goes and what penalties will be incurred if they fail to meet those expectations.  

I do more than this as outlined above but one reason for greater requirements for rooming houses is they have a greater history of fire related incidents.

So in your first 6 months you are paying for land, permitting, and other soft costs that you've outlined in your budget.