Water penetration will eat your lunch.

Property management will eat into your profits especially when things are running smoothly.  

If you have a one month vacancy you eat up your whole year of cash flow.  

I think the other thing is that you might have a chicken and an egg scenario here.You probably won't find anybody wanting to buy an entire block or two and fix it all up.

If you think you were deceived:1) Try to stop payment on your check, even if a cashiers check/money order2) Talking to lawyer will eat up most of your deposit, unless the seller is concerned about some fraud on their part, and maybe they'd cover your legal fees too.

I am considering taking the lump sum, eating the taxes and penalties and investing the balance in real estate.

They really eat into potential profit.I really appreciate your input. 

I'd eat it and order a set of filters of Amazon to be sent to the house.  

She basically told us she wanted to eat breakfast and lunch in the home one more time!!!!  

Be sure to read through The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing to help you get started.By the way - here are my favorite articles on Wholesaling:9 Reasons You Couldn’t Find A Buyer For Your Wholesale DealDon’t Start Wholesaling Until You Read This: Wholesale Advice from a Fix and FlipperHow to Start Wholesaling: Getting Past The Education and Into the FieldFinally -be sure to setup some keyword alerts - especially for "Egg Harbor Township" so you can jump into local conversations.See you around the forums!