In terms of "buying" out my brother in law, I think I meant it in the sense that *if* we agree on a lower price point (say that $470k number), I think he would likely have issues with it since we're being sold the house (that was supposed to be part of his inheritance) at a discounted price... basically, potential issues of favoritism etc.

Your best bet is to value it like a credit card debt, and you know how discounted those are.Maybe someone else can chime in.

Or they may offer a one day course at a discount and up sell you to the next level.

they are for real.. but my dealings with them were that they are pretty well disorginzied.. but then again they are dealing with folks that have trashed credit... and usually not savvy to the financial world at all.. so it takes a lot of hand holding.. and at least when I sold.. they wanted me to give significant discount so the rate could be bought downat the end of the day though the buyer got a smoking deal.. but there is a huge drop out of those who just can't get through the program and probably never will clean up their credit etc.

Your local utility may offer steep discounts on water saving fixtures.

Keep diving deep into the BP Podcast and all the other great resources the site has available (books, blogs, and of course, forums).I recommend that you especially make an effort to post on here with your questions, as there will be a lot, and asking for help is a great way to get feedback you might not find in a book.

The real question is when, how deep and how long?

Like, maybe I offer folks a discount to re-up with me and then use my standards?

Excellent results Todd, getting a payoff on a discounted note is a wonderful thing!

Why bother,, just disclose to tenant that the service is hooked up to their meter and give them a monthly discount towards the rent.. or keep the electric service in your name for that unit and charge like a hundred buck a month more for rent..