As for a reflection of your entire brokerage, that sounds a little strange to me.Saving 3% off the top is a huge savings let alone if you get their price down considerably as well. 

That is very low to consider a mortgage I think that is a far bigger problem than your age and will be reflected in your debt to income ratio (DTI).

As soon as her lease ends change it to reflect how you wish to be paid.

A cap rate reflects the ratio of price to NOI. 

Rent/value ratios only reflects demand.  

You best course of action is to get very familiar with the law - perhaps print it out and read it a few times, that's what I like to do, as it's usually written very poorly and takes a few re-reads to understand - and then review any of your off-the-shelf contracts for clauses that are not legal, and re-write your agreements to reflect that. 

The legal fees don't reflect  refund that we got from the city of about $500.

The difference has been very minimal, but I think it will more accurately reflect changes in costs over time.Mark, its great to hear from someone in that area who has already been investing! 

While I have no doubt that cash-buyers receive a discount to some degree (in fact- I witness it everyday and regularly represent clients who are beneficiaries of this) I think that the extent to which it's reflected by this study is a bit overstated due to a hidden variable:A lot of cash purchases are made for value-add deals, or other cases where the property might face obstacles to financing.

You only have to look at this thread to see how many people are stopped in their tracks by this issue.The only issue is to get the property at a price that reflects it's undesirability with all the utilities as one.