(A)   In addition to the duties imposed upon Tenant by this or other provisions of this Lease, Tenant shall at all times maintain the Premises in good condition and in reasonably clean and safe manner.

I have mad a series of smart financial decisions over the last 10 years that have put me in a great position to go out on my own and take this on as a full time career. 

My question to you guys is if a property has a positive cash flow but the cash on cash return is pretty low would you still take a chance on it???

The judge told the tenant that the landlord is obligated to hire an exterminator only once and the tenant is to maintain from there. 

I told them their current agreements would be maintained but had them sign new agreements with me that had my additions to their current agreement.

With rent at $1350, expenses at 50% your overall position on this property shows negative return in the range of $2200 per month...give or take.Your feelings of losing out are spot on.

There will eventually be some overlap as older units deteriorate and become low income units if the owners defer maintenance and don't maintain their rent price levels.

But I have close to nothing to offer as collateral, and no liquidity for a down payment.I would search for an answer to this question if I could think of the right way to phrase it in a search string, it's probably a stupid question, but here goes:Would it be possible to offer something MORE secure, thus making lending to me less risky, than merely allowing them to become the 1st position lien holder?

That way you are keeping your crews busy all the time (maintaining talented workers is the hardest thing in RE) and you can do multiple projects that are at different stages at the same time.  

This is my mindset exactly and I appreciate the positivity!