If she purchased at the time she first indicated fears that a correction was coming instead of waiting she would be able to weather a significant depreciation cycle without loosing any of her initial investment.For a lot of reasons I believe Coastal So Cal RE prices are not going to fall significantly in the near term: 1) housing shortage (vacancy rates are near the lowest in the country and they cannot build enough homes to meet demand) 2) rising minimum rage 3) low unemployment; high competition for skilled workforce 4) no matter what you think of Trump, his decisions have been to grow business (very pro-business) this implies revenue is likely to continue to increase which combined with the shortage of skilled workers is likely to result in wage growth (the cost of this growth may be problematic).I see a lot more indicators for further near-term appreciation than I see for significant depreciation. 

There is also the underlying concept that the listing broker/agent works for the seller and is contractually and ethically bound to act in their best interest and get them the highest possible price for their property.

It may be difficult to get someone same day, so for a plumbing leak, you may have to walk them through turning off the water source until you can get someone out ASAP.Minor things, like a gate not latching right or loose fence boards, etc., I see that you can schedule once or twice a month for maintenance days to take care of these issues and other backlogged issues.

I've heard stories of tenants who stopped paying having their front doors being removed as well as rats being let loose in their homes. 

He will loose his deposit and all loan fee paid if he did not get this loan approved = 2K (loan fee non-refundable amount) and 8k home deposit (if he could not get loan from any other lender due to this issue)1.

Wayne-  I appreciate your thoughts but that is a 'little loose' in your analogy. 

Then suddenly things changed, she became wheelchair bound, wanted me to build a ramp even though she also was looking for  a new place that would work better for her.

During the last market downturn I heard war stories of investors loosing everything and all their properties cause of lenders calling their loans due even if they had been making perfect payments.

Start with some basic criteria: I don't want to loose money, I want to have a decent commute, etc. 

Newbies at excavation work stay to the back of the house to learn not the front where your bound to run in to something, fyi by me you pull a water line or a sewer line out of the main in the street guess whos paying the bill to have them come in and make the repair.