I'm not making excuses, that's just what I need to do.

Always late with excuses.

Her family told her she sold it too cheap and she tried to use her son's health as an excuse so we asked for the option money back to which she responded that it was hers and she didn't have to give it back.We ended going to arbitration and she finally honored the contract but not without extra expense and grief for my wife with the local board of Realtors, who, though they admitted we did nothing wrong said we should have let her keep the money and the house. ????

I hope your lease agreement spells out exactly how long "guests" are allowed to stay because I guarantee your tenant will invoke the guest excuse.

He gave me some excuse about working a lot and not wanting the check to be late...to which I replied that the 1st comes at the same interval every month!

Of course they ALL, EVERY SINGLE ONE, has an excuse for that, and excuses are like .... well you know the end of that sentence.  

But you also don't want to give yourself any excuse to chicken out. 

@Aakash Deol, your fear of interest rates is just another excuse individuals give themselves to not invest in real estate.

In Pennsylvania, since security deposits have to be held in special escrow accounts, this is always a great excuse to insist that the first rental payment and the security deposit absolutely has to be in a money order.

I attend at least one REIA type meeting a week and I constantly hear investors make excuses for not asking simple questions that can significantly benefit them.