I also suspect that if you put that in the offer the LA (Listing Agent) will consider that a non-starter because at that point the current owner will be responsible for evicting the tenant and paying their relocation fee.

I suspect the 9 months will go by fast especially if you have not picked a Midwest market or started building your team.  

If you flake as the seller suspects then they have 6 months to find a new tenant or a new buyer. 

I suspect you can get a higher rate if you make the space nice.That being said, it looks like a no brainer, even if you need to invest significantly into the property.

I suspect I will eventually have to evict him anyways because he has proven to be consistently difficult.

Josh's point is a good one for many markets, but I suspect it wouldn't be as big of a draw in a market such as a ski town in Maine.

I also suspect rates will be higher in a year, which may make refinancing a bad option.

Standard "not financial advice" disclaimer (I hate that crap lol but such is the world nowadays), but my personal strategy right now is to take out as much *GOOD* cheap debt as possible since I agree with you that I see rates continuing to rise for at least the next few years as well as I suspect that inflation will still take quite a while to bring back down under control, pending what any potential recession might look like as you alluded to.What do I mean by "good, cheap" debt? 

The statistics quoted by many services are suspect as they generally are from companies who are selling lists to buyers anxious to find seller financing opportunities. 

I suspect it would depend on where interest rates were likely to be headed.A more recent item is interest rates are rising very fast.