Your mind is powerful because you are obviously very intelligent, but with a powerful mind such as yours you, if you try hard enough, can convince yourself of anything - even of paying more than you know you should.

I would not rock the boat, sit back and enjoy the music.

What would you suggest if you were in the seller's boat?

So, my only risk here is loss of principal purchasing power due to inflation.Correct?

I guess what I would like to know is...what's the best way to tackle this and maximize borrowing power.

This stems off a question I asked the other day and got some great answers.I'm wondering what the (LA County) costs and process might look like for all of the permitting, creating a new street address, new water, new waste, new power lines, and having a driveway carved into the curb.When doing these things with the City/County - Do they take many months to make happen?

If you don't do the 3rd thing, you are stuck in a situation where it may be a year or more to foreclose and very expensive,  and back in the same boat as basically a "personal guarantee".

It's not our usual practice, but we have done this a couple of times with vendors - both times we put up a large ernest money and made a portion of it non-refundable - but these were exceptional circumstances.We have not done this with a power-of-sale or bank-owned property, nor would I have any expectation they would allow it to occur.

The inspector only does a visual inspection for loose paint chips , so I will probably just power wash with tarps down and spray on some cheap paint where necessary .

I am in the same boat financially because of different "life" matters.