If he put into the agreement that he will only get paid 2.5% (I have heard this happening before) on the close, meaning you the buyer would come out of pocket for their services at close, then you are in that contract to perform.

See which performs better and then you know what message resonates better with your audience.  

@Vickiel WoodardFirst, congratulations on taking some VERY positive steps under difficult personal situation.I would guess from your post that you have some expenses to incur for repair, rehab and carrying costs, before you begin receiving income.If your intent is to hold as rentals for good cash flow, a fix n flip type lender (where most SFR investor lending is available), will probably not be interested unless they believe you plan to sell after rehab.As you stated, you won't qualify for a conventional or institutional loan, not only because of credit but also because of loan size.The suggestions made by posters so far are some version of(1) sell as is one, two, or all(2) sell one and use proceeds to fix up other twoNot bad advice, depending on your goals.These lower end houses will sell for a VERY low price in relation to their rental income because (1) tenant types will most likely be a problem or at least be high maintenance, i.e. chasing them for rent, high turnover, life crisis, employment problems, etc, and (2) unless area undergoes gentrification price increases will be non existent (3) effective outside property management is probably not available.So, if you are able and willing to manage the property and tenants yourself, keeping the properties as cash flow rentals can be a VERY lucrative activity.I would find an experienced contractor, and talk him into either (1) partnering with you by providing his services as a contribution for buying an equity interest in the houses or (2) accepting a lien on the properties in lieu of immediate cash payment to perform the necessary rehab and either making monthly payments to him to pay off the lien once the units are rented or paying him off by refinancing once the properties are rehabbed and income is established, though as mentioned a loan would be somewhat difficult to accomplish.An alternative is to attend your local REIA meeting, and discuss a partnership with some of the more passive investors.BTW, are you paying typical credit card interest rates of 12-24%, or did you get an introductory deal giving you a low or no interest loan for 6 -12 months?  

Nor does needlessly bidding up your competition without the intent or ability to perform on a real estate contract. 

Don't take an 'unreasonable' amount, to avoid 'equitable interest' issues down the road.You can offer seller concessions to cover their closing costs in lieu of offering 'rent credits' which can be viewed as a 'financing agreement', and subject to lots of fun rules.Keep the lease completely independent of the option; don't tie performance of the lease to the performance of the option. 

Without going into the weeds on the 'why', Last summer I quit claim'd a non-performing rental (Mayflower) taken Sub2 (with a basis of $65k) back to the original seller, in exchange for them forgiving $42k in notes for 4 other properties purchased from them, due to them in 2020.

@Ken Rishel Lease Options are a great way to sell a property when structured correctly and not performed in a predatory manner.

I performed this play many times over which is why I can afford to live as well as I do.Plan your work and work your plan but don't plan the results!

I currently own a tri in Sunnyslope; it performed moderately well considering I went through all of the tenants in the first 9 months that the PM had placed and had to evic one of three.

I can self-perform more than half the rehab.