Now on top of the roach situation, the unit is filled with flies and mosquitoes as it's open to the elements.Upon my encouragement she called the landlord to ask for a rent reduction for this month, as she has not stayed there one day since she started paying rent.

Test the electrical, hvac etc and other things that you can, make assumptions on the plumbing and go back to them with your repair list and demand a price reduction or release from the contract with earnest money refunded.Don't waste their time with the small stuff like broken fixture, stove, nasty carpet.  

There is an SFR here in my area that was listed at 52k after one reduction and an agent I know said "you could get that for 40k I bet" I said, you think 40k huh?

That should give some indication of how flexible they are without having to send out a bunch of low-ball offers.You might not get a lot of responses initially, but with houses on the market a while they probably have some amount planned for a follow-up reduction.

This continues to accrue until the next regular scheduled payment becomes due, then you have a principle reduction required that will change the figures so you'd need a new payoff quote from the lender.As Jon mentioned, there is no need for you to get involved in a payoff as the closing agent does this and the lender may not give it to a third party anyway, the borrower or closing agent needs to get this information. :)

These so-called forensic auditors are looking for violations that could help homeowners avoid foreclosure or receive reductions in loan principal balances.These scams were run on every street corner from 2008 to 2010.

Nothing wrong with failing if you know you did your best.At this point you have nothing to lose, why not just say you need a reduction or you must cancel the contract?

Equity can only be shown in the first year by the reduction of debt based on the cost, after one year, to be accurate in accounting methods you'd need an appraisal to claim an equity amount.

(BTW, I was working with a realtor at the time and was informed that this was perfectly acceptable) He was dragging his feet- I didn't want the reduction in price, I wanted assurance that this deal was going to happen.

., areas that are likely to be more resilient to rent reductions once the city will become more saturated with apartments in the market.As far as heated cap rates go, I agree, they've fallen A LOT in the last 18 months alone, so it makes it that much more important to be prudent in your underwriting.