I'd give $10 option payment.An added technique is an Equity Split.You lease w option from seller for $319K at a reduced rent (get 20% spread of market rent and the rent you pay the seller).You guarantee him a minimum profit of 3% ($9,570) when you sell plus his $319K.You tell him you will add a bonus of 10% (you could offer more) of your NET profit at closing, which will be a minimum of $2000, which ever is more.

Claw foot tubs are a big bonus if they're in good shape and you have modern fixtures with them.

The appreciation is a bonus, but I did shop hard for a long time to buy under market and match my family's needs and desires.As RE investors, don't we have the knowledge needed to make money on our primary residences?

They are looking at doing another round of BRAC (base closures) here in the next couple years (so they say) so you need to determine the solvency of the bases you are looking at purchasing around because depending on the mission it could go away.

We started with the sander that had the round head on it but it would not get the paint off.

The minute I told him about it he said: If I buy it, a bonus/finder's fee is yours.

I am not apposed to flipping, but for the most part my goal is to shoot for a solid monthly cash flow with with appreciation and building equity as a bonus.

If all you know are L/Os then I guess when it is proper, you're doing the right thing, when it's not, you're driving a square peg in a round hole. :)

Before the property was listed, I made him an offer to sell me his house, settle within 30 days so he, his family and all their possession could make the 2,000 mile journey to their new home together.The added bonus was he also had a rental property, that was his former home, that he wanted to sell.

Of course, if I were flipping, I would defiantly need a higher ARV but in this case I just see the $20K to $25k of equity as a bonus.