If consent is granted, ownership of any fixtures or appliances affixed to the premises or plants planted in the ground shall convey to Landlord with no additional consideration granted by Landlord.

;) If the fire damage was already there when you bought the property, your purchase price should have taken this "pre-existing defect" into consideration.

All this leads to my humble conclusion that it's quite possible for property values to rise further in the near future... hence one of the reasons I'm not selling... yet..I tried to refinance the property about 6 months ago, but the bank wanted at least 25% equity.

It does NOT matter whether you are paying cash or financing, which can be a consideration with other REO sellers.

Or is the rise in value of the homes in the area legitimate?

Warran Buffett: It's a way, in effect, to short the dollar because you can take a 30-year mortgage and if it turns out rates rise, the other guy's stuck with it for 30 years.

As far as I can tell, their buying has slowed considerably the past several months.2.

I second @Ned Carey 's considerations.

There is no requirement for any lender to accept appraised values without considerations in other aspects of the property conditions or values or any other common sense matter.

The first thing to consider is every investor is different and has different appetite for risks - or might even have other considerations in mind - so no two deals need to be structured the same.