Before I really dive into the waters I really feel as if I need to have a firm grasp on the construction aspect of this business.

The Realtor needs to do progressive price drops, until he can get an offer generate, and then it will still be tough because again, the house list price is still way over the actual value.

- Having a 4 years balloon to my buyers for a house under water isn't putting too much pressure on them?

If you can explain to your buyers why it is such a great deal then you can still wholesale off the MLS.Example:REO property is listed as under contract on the MLS, suddenly it comes back active again after 30 days or so and there has been a big price drop.

Another biggie in apartments is water leaks.

Never had a problem with the tenants stopping by, except to drop off rent checks :)

If I can't sell it as it's listed now, at some point I'll not renew the realtor's contract and do a combo FSBO/MLS listing and offer a 3% buyer's agent commission and drop 30K off the price.

Everything before dropping one dime on a home/deal.Does that make sense?

Buyer gets cold feet, backs out before dropping off option fee / earnest money.Day 44 - Submit highest and best offer to bank, for offer #3.Day 60 - Bank comes back, tells me to write a report to challenge price to get offer accepted.Day 67 - Offer #3 is accepted.

You also need to take into account if your competition is waving the security deposit for qualified applicants,charging a pet fee or not,paying for any water,sewer,trash for the tenant included in the rent,including appliances,or giving a rent credit on move in, and many other factors.Rent rates can look good until you see how many landlords you are competing with,quality of the product,and incentives given driving down the net rent before debt service and depreciation.