@Carrie Giordano You should start by breaking down the costs and figuring out which are negotiable or variable and which aren't. 

If not your interest in the deal may cost you more than you make in carrying or holding costs.I think you got a lot more homework to do before jumping into this venture.

Your carrying costs will be at least $4,000, depending on taxes. 

You, perhaps rightly, can beat up on him for bad timing but we all make decisions based on the information in front of us and no one (that I know) has perfect crystal ball.Now lets bring in the financing issue; Assuming the buyer has arranged some financing (without doing the math, I don't think a 3 CAP can carry even at current interest rates).

I'm a firm believer that real estate investments are to be had in any market as long as you have expertise in the area and the personnel to carry things out.

We're thinking about putting in an offer to an owner he wants 30% down on a mobile home park  He will carry the rest of the loan  I'm a bit  confused because we're not using a realtor this time and we're going to try and do this ourselves we're going to hire an attorney to look over all of the paperwork once we get the deal rolling but to start the deal I'm wondering if anybody has any advice on forms or how to protect their earnest money deposit

However it has a commercial zone that was set many years ago (even though it was surrounded by res.) so in my analysis it wasn't feasible for me to carry on and try to get it rezoned for a small development.  

All in all, I would say enough to carry the property vacant for 6 months.  

Your friends could find a house where the seller is willing to carry back the loan.  

It was closer to 30%, so I used that.I offered a 95% financed option (65% comes from a bank, and 30% seller carry back) at full asking price and the seller liked it.