That's all well and good as long as everything goes smoothly, but as soon as you have a seller that wants to back out of a deal or a tenant that is giving you headaches, the small investment up front in a well drafted contract will look like a great bargain. 

While large companies like us are fairly visible to investors in the market we make up less than 5% of all investment transactions that take place.  

That doesn't seem fair.

A 203K is a great option but you have to call a fair number of lenders to see if they do them.

With that structure 50/50 split would be fair.

A fairly new home that was built in 2007, but the previous tenants had pets that they never let out to use the bathroom, and kids that liked to color on walls, etc. 

I know I can buy these properties at a discount and hopefully have them cash flowing fairly quick.

I have seen parties use this before as a bargaining chip to get their attorneys fees paid before they agree to release the earnest money to the other party.This is why you want language that says contractually if that party is due the earnest money for a breach of contract then the holding escrow company can release the earnest money to the non-breaching party without the breaching parties consent or approval.No legal advice given. 

Also make sure box 2 "fair rental days" is accurate. 

Ive had a number of clients who were foreign, but I think in my market, the DC metro area that is fairly common.