I would put heavy emphasis into how you pre-qualify your potential tenants (credit checks, income verification, past reference checks, etc) and you'll be fine. 

Get some help to ensure you don't lose your money.

Do I lose my 3% earnest money? 

Think he ended up losing his license.

But that might not be a big enough carrot if he’s going to lose out on $50k/year in rent.

Surprised since it flooded in June 2021, but it seemed like he "learned" by trying to get rid of it ASAP after June and didn't expect another major northeast storm to cause even worse damage before the house closes in 2 weeks.I too agree with you that the probable good +cash flow will not be worth the headaches/possible loses down the road in the long run. 

You can buy houses with credit cards, but have to convert the money into cash, which costs many percentage points (unless you have a special offer from the specific CC), but once you convert to cash, you lose the points associated with spending the money.However, I do run all of my rehab projects through credit cards, and frequently have tens of thousands of dollars running through those little puppies.

He is probably a better bet b/c he isn't going to lose that compared to someone who has a job today, and doesn't tomorrow.  

Losing money forever isn't a business model and probably attaches bells to someone's IRS returns.

We must do right by the customer, even if it means a lower commission, or even worse: Losing the deal.