And that is true...but it takes a while for termites to eat a house....years, probably a decade.

If you used a realtor they may be your next stop so you can have a representative to the seller's realtor, worst case you probably end up in small claims court and eat anything over the dollar limit.

So, my question is: is there a reason you’d choose hard money and perhaps a lower down payment to preserve capital vs (for example) a convention 25% down loan which would eat up a little capital but put a little cushion of 25% equity in between my newbie brains and a change in market conditions/tenants/etc. 

It sucks to eat the sh*t sandwich on a deal, but focus on finding the next deal that will make you money instead of trying to fix a bad deal. 

I think go with your gut, the list above is already telling there are going to be many expenses which will eat up your cash flow.

@Soniel EstimeDon’t eat your steak in the bathroom.

I mean transfer tax would eat most of that.  

I would advertise it as basic internet service, email, work from cabin type of thing, but I don't think you want folks to be streaming on that or it will eat up your data plan.Oh BTW.. all internet speeds are rated at bits per second ;)

(eats into how much you actully get back)so your in the hole 50-13k = 37k. says 38.5k in calc so that sounds about right on how much you will have into this home and wont be able to get back after you do the refinance.

Do they not plan to eat or pay utilities?