., owner paid heat) and let the prospective buyers do their own analysis.

If you limit possible buyers to ones who will rent it back to you, you're cutting your pool of prospective buyers by 99%.

No sense putting yourself or a prospective tenant in a dangerous or hostile situation.

I have an aquaintance who is a unactive home inspector who could help but he lives a little ways from my prospective target areas.:/ So its learning for me, which may take awhile before Im comfortable telling a buyer "Hey it needs this" Without a quote from a contractor..

But both scenarios are just guesses.Evaluate your prospects of future cash flow with the 50% rule.

Once the prospective tenant moves in, it is applied to either the first months rent or security deposit.

What happens if another prospect comes along in two months?

I say, only as much as necessary to determine if a prospect fits your initial pre-screen criteria (I.e., property type, location, equity, etc.) and identifiable triggers, such as foreclosure, tax sale, squatters or similar problems with a time element.Personally, I keep a list of vacant properties with substantial equity.

I may use that for prospects I get luke warm responses on that I am unable to close on.

Skills like: networking, professionally soliciting prospects, marketing, building rapport with clients, etc. are a very useful skill sets, especially when dealing with Homeowners.IMO, most investors aren't comfortable working directly with sellers.