* What is your Guarantee?

I guarantee if you say "I'd like to raise your rent $25, but you'll get a new fridge"--- they will say "The fridge works great, I'd prefer to keep this and not have my rent go up." 

It's no guarantee but it's a good place to start.

However, the realtor is saying that we should be able to get an inspection but she cannot guarantee that we'll be able to (i.e. that it may be too hard for the property management to get the tenant to let us in in time for closing... 

Hopefully it was just poor craftsmanship by the previous builder, but if it is wood and its buckling like that, chances are there is a really bad moisture problem throughout the house.

Contractually for my partners, I am considering guaranteeing a monthly return on their money with the option to get 100% of their money back after 12 months if they don't want to continue investing with me. 

I'm not certain what the current tenant pays but I 100% guarantee it's not the $1500/mo rent the house could get.

If you invest it powers of compounding will almost guarantee you make more than the 5-7% juice on student debt or a mortgage.

When you do that then you get security in your investment because the properties have often been rehabbed to address potentially large capital expenses, you get the right to be picky and choose an investment that meets your goals, you earn passive income as they should manage the property, and a great company will stand behind their "numbers" and guarantee the rent and maintenance for 1-2 years.

Besides, paying off debt gives you a good rate of return, so I would take that guaranteed return before I started investing anyway.