I would see if he could possibly meet somewhere in the middle to minimize the damage.

THOUGHTS -- Refinance the property for as much as you can, take the tax free cash to invest in other real estate while giving your tenant a delayed contract of sale with payment that would cover your first and the equity in a proposed second, the delayed contract of sale could be as long as you want it to be; 5-10 years, that's up to you.An additional twist here is that if I sell by the end of February, I will save probably $20K in taxes and won't have to do a 1031 exchange b/c I would have lived in the place for 2 of the last 5 years.

The fees are minimal and include state specific paperwork, monthly meetings, quarterly newsletters of new happenings, etc.I noticed your tags aren't working, so the folks you replied to may not have seen your responses.  

The rent will not go toward the purchase price and I have a hard money loan lined up to fund 80% of my purchase so out of pocket cash is pretty minimal and I don't think I will have a problem using the lease option fee which I don't think is considered a traditional rental DP (still need an attorney to look at it all and confirm).  

The home needs about $65K in renovations.I need a short sale specialist who can negotiate the existing debt down to something that makes sense for an investor and take the deal from start to finish in a timely fashion with minimal delays.

I was really looking for a house in Silver Lake or Echo Park, as we work in the Fashion District, so that will minimize drive time.I was really trying to buy our first house and look at it as an investment.

He may be looking to simply break even or get minimal cash flow, and eventually sell the houses later for capital gains.

I tend to favor more units under one roof to spread my vacancy risk, but i'm not sure i have the required downpayment for one and i'm afraid if i wait it will just delay me getting into real estate.

The reason for it is I am living in Australia (Australian resident) which my wife (US citizen) and we are moving to Temecula this year but we may be delayed with our visa.

At the end of it all, I want to be a value resource and asset to all those around me.My focus right now is Rehabbing for delayed profit and wholesaling to fill in the gaps.