If fees are too low, I would suggest keeping them the same for at least one to two years, then slowly incorporate increases.If you pay cash, make sure that you have some sort of clawback ($$) for a certain amount of time if accounts leave in XXXX days.Will the owner stay a certain amount of time to help in the transition?

Ben Franklin is a franchise of sorts.

Hope the prices come down to where I can purchase then nearly immediately, put in a renter to get some sort of cashflow and move to an area where I could hope to pay $1,300 in rent.

Is there any sort of "grace period" so that this isn't viewed as commingling funds?

Let me know what sort of contractors you need.  

have they made any sort of payment?

We have 3 rentals that we've fixed up, but this is a much larger project than anything we've done prior.Will the bank consider the value of the land at all - as any sort of collateral against the loan? 

I am curious what sort of things the BP community would put on the signage.  

., I would seriously consider trying to leverage as much as possible - do an IO of some sort - and reap on the positive cash flow.

My strategy has always been to leverage as much as possible at the best rate, which will typically be an ARM of some sort.