The clients have no skin in the game, not even a deposit.  

-Make sure you have a plan to handle all tenant's security deposits from the person you are buying the house from.

Contract itself doesn't state when EMD must be deposited with title.

Any work that has to be done to the house other than normal wear and tear is taken out of their security deposit.

While I won’t be able to have these funds deposited into my regular checking account until I reach retirement age, I do have more control of the funds, and I get to continue my education and experience in various real estate opportunities I wouldn’t have access to without this strategy.

Nowadays you have to do deposits on each property you want to bid upon. 

If you are looking to strengthen your offer consider above market rents, a higher deposit, and taking on some of the maintenance and repairs.  

@Bailey A.I never do a "move out inspection" with the tenant present because (1) landlord is under no legal obligation to do a "move out inspection" with the tenant, (2) it usually takes landlord a few weeks to determine what is in need of repair and whether the cost to repair can be charged against the tenant's deposit, (3) if the tenant is present at the "move out inspection" he will probably nit pick, second guess, whine and deny responsibility, or try to negotiate the cost of repairs, etc. 

The buyer paid $55K in earnest deposit in an escrow account held by the real estate agent4.

Also, why would I need cash for anything besides the earnest money deposit?