It seems to me that this might have come up in a municipal lien search, or at least in the settlement where we (and I think everybody) requires final water, sewer and gas bills to be paid off from the proceeds at closing.From the way you've described the charges, it sounds like a sewer betterment charge, which should have been disclosed in the listing and should also have shown up on the municipal lien certificate (MLC).Somebody dropped the ball.  

We have a friend and local realtor who knew our situation and reached out about the following scenario:RV Park in neighboring city (~45 min drive)100% Occupancy currently (we're in oil and gas and West Texas is booming)Sitting on 20 acres but only 8 acres are used for the 52 spot RV park (so room to expand or add revenue stream)All infrastructure in place including city water, cable & wifi, laundry facilities, home for the property manager, and an engineered, permitted septic.

I also owned a painting business on the side for years and painted Maverick gas stations a large chain in the local area.

I also owned a painting business on the side for years and painted Maverick gas stations a large chain in the local area.

The city's definition of a kitchen is triggered by a 220v outlet intended for a stove or a gas line intended for a stove.

Hi,I'm separating the gas on a small 2 family building.

You said that your initial offers were "80% - 90% of asking price".I don't know whether your market conditions are like mine, but I just ran the numbers on MFRs sold in my town (Plymouth, MA) and Boston over the last 6 months to look at the percentage of sale price to list price.Results: Plymouth MFRs sold in a range of 96.5% to 111.1% of asking (average 101.1%).Boston MFRs sold in a range of 58% to 143% of asking (average 99.6%)If the markets you're looking at are similar to mine, I can't blame the agent for thinking that you're going to burn up a lot of his time and gas and never get an offer accepted, which is most likely the reason he's looking for the $5,000 "retainer".That's not standard practice around here, but I do understand his reasoning.It's always useful to try to put yourself in another person's shoes. 

Both units have separate utilities and tenants pay their own electric & gas utilities. 

Natural gas is available in the city but it is currently set up on oil.  

For an entertainment sure, as a source of income to put gas in my car and food on my table?