With that amount of money, I wouldn't be investing it at all until I was in a position not to ask for advice on a public forum.  

What do you do to ensure that the tenant is responsible for security deposit disputes since that is the largest reason for owner lawsuitsHow familiar are you with the newly changed laws that can affect you the owner if they are not used correctly?. 

I am okay holding it but wanted to issue a "holding deposit" that would turn into part of security deposit at lease signing, but if for some reason they back out it could semi- recoup the cost of holding and not advertising. 

For example, you buy the place and the tenant could claim the Seller allowed them to paint the walls black or that their security deposit was twice what the Seller claimed.

Think of all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.

@Mark Ashton Publication 523 - Eligibility Step 4—Look-Back Determine whether you meet the look-back requirement.If you didn't sell another home during the 2-year period before the date of sale (or, if you did sell another home during this period, but didn't take an exclusion of the gain earned from it), you meet the look-back requirement.

The firm has had MHC as its top performing property type for the last year and a half and a November 2018 report described MHC as “one of the most attractive property types in both the public and private markets due to 1) a best-in-class cap-ex profile; 2) structural barriers to new supply; and 3) still-too-high nominal cap rates.”I hope this helps those considering investing in MHCs - happy to discuss further.

My experience with real estate is part personal investing in publicly traded REITs, part classes from my Finance degree, and part derivatives based from my current job.

If you feel you have a case, you can take a chance and take it out of his security deposit. 

Will the tenant forfeit the security deposit?