There's a saying that goes something like this: "If you have a great deal with a bad sponsor you'll have a lot of problems but if you have a great sponsor with a deal that goes bad you'll probably still be OK". 

Any thoughts you might have from past experience - Good or Bad. 

I plan on continuing to save for more rentals, but I figure if I can use the equity in my primary to speed things up a bit, that might not be such a bad thing.  

I know of a property in my area that is zoned for General Warehousing, it's about 4 acres, there is a single family home, detached garage, and warehousing building (all in bad shape) on the property.

The bad part about real estate is that you have a ton of options (read distractions).

In this case, multiple tenants have rented these units for 5/6 years-I figured keeping long term tenants is a priority, but what I am hearing is initial turnover is not necessarily a bad thing.

And the tenant admitted that if the owner didn't waive the rent, it'll take him a year or two to catch up, with the landlord breathing down his neck all this time.At the time this happened, I had a tenant who lost his job, voluntarily moved to his friend's place, and had to discard all his belonging's after failing to sell it.

Good payment history, slightly below market rent, but not bad.

The escalator clause is not a bad thing, but just another tool in the box.

How badly do you still want to close this deal?