Im currently handling both sides of a deal, buyer is an investor and the seller is a primary owner and the investor wants to buy cash for a price not too reasonable to the seller but acceptable.

My lawyer  then told him that filing a mechanics liens for no good reason tainted the title of my property and they should pay a penalty  for that.  

One of the main reasons I have come across on why people aren't buying cheap properties in my area is that they don't have 14k and the money to rehab the property; they would rather put down 5k or 10k on home in a 100k neighborhood and make poor returns until their 30 year mortgage is up.

Most of the deals I do are with truly motivated sellers who can't wait that long or for some other reason don't want to sell through the traditional route and are willing to trade equity to avoid it.That said, be careful in analyzing your deals, and don't get caught up in the hype and pay more than you should because you baked appreciation into the numbers.

That said, just because something is in the lease, doesn't mean the courts will agree it is reasonable.

For that reason we chose to stay in Buda on the NW side where there is a lot of new development including a new High School (under construction) and elementary and middles schools that are ranked well.  

There's no reason you need to over-leverage.

The main reason I joined BP was the massive support of this community!  

Do you think that is reasonable, or should I estimate more?

I bought two houses right here in SoCal this week... and today is only the first day of the week, and I can't see any reason why I would need to expand into another market, especially one that is on the other side of the country!