. $40, applicant pays so I don't even handle any money.

Extremely interested in real estate investing and the "architect as developer" form of practice (check out what Jonathan Segal is doing www.jonathansegalarchitect.com/ ) @Jared W Smith, I have the same question as Jonathan... how are our unique skillsets applicable in this space?

Mike,In my limited experience with property managers the usual flat fee is around 10% of gross income so if you are basically hiring them as such that might not be a bad place to start.

We have accepted an offer on a 4 family house and in our Offer to Purchase Contingency Addendum we had the inspection contingency set the limit of defects at $1,000.

Is this slow down limited to Seattle or is the assumption that this is the harbinger of a national slow down?

HomeReady still might be a better loan since the PMI requirement amount is lower but you'll have to meet their income limits. 

I have an issue with one of the terms in the proposal regarding limiting liability: "Owner agrees to limit the liability of --------------. and its employees and agents to the Owner and to contractors and subcontractors on the project, for claims in contract, tort or warranty to the sum of the amount paid for services or $ 20,000.00 which ever is higher.

I reach out to a lender, submit the application (or verbally relay my information over the phone to avoid another hard inquiry), and when I ask for an estimate of rates, they disappear or take an unreasonable amount of time to respond and follow up is non existent. 

Credit Utilization: Having a high credit card limit, but not using a lot of it helps. 3.

You do not sound like you are going to make your money back from the limited information you provided.