Usually you make a small earnest deposit for consideration on the option, say $10, that's the most you risk.

What I’m a bit confused on is do you take taxes into consideration when you set your max purchase price?

What is the consideration for your penalty to a seller who is free to contract with others?

If there is a lot of trim work or a considerable amount of prep work obviously it can cost more.

Make sure first that you can afford your home and then take into consideration the advantage you get from the tax deduction.

Postcards would not be considerably cheaper either, I will just print out next batch of letters at home.

In Los Angeles, a lot like this would be considered a hillside zone and the engineering required to build would make the project cost considerably more.

I was thinking that the value of my houses will be increase considerable by really enhancing the value by smart rehab and using my man hours .

Assuming your rent assumptions are accurate, assuming there is no major differed maintenance issues, and assuming there is nothing out of the ordinary that would impact your NOI (such that your expenses were much more than 50%), this deal sounds great from a purely financial perspective.Obviously, there are other considerations (location, management, etc), but again, just looking at the numbers, it looks good on paper.

I am interested in the property because there is considerable rehab value in it even if the LTV is 100%