I have my first propsective tenant who has put down a deposit to hold along with his application.

On the high end, I'd charge first and last month's rent up front and 1.5X rent for security deposit.

It sucks, but it's possible that the rational thing to do is let her stay.... and keep 100% of the security deposit when she leaves. 

Investor money (downpayment) came from a paypal software engineer and ceo of a china based pharmaceutical company. while in rehab (super ugly at the time), I rented each unit out for 2800 starting in January and collected first months rent and deposits for a cool 8400/month for the entire building.

If you need me to do math to show why 20% down is better financing on a primary residence than 3.5% or 5% down, I'll happily oblige.Within two weeks of going into escrow on the new purchase, find tenants and get them to sign a lease and make a security deposit.

To ask for first, last month rent, and security deposit of $2000 seems too much ($6000) for people renting a home.  

The sellers of the property deducted $200 from the tenant's security deposit during our closing process for a repair, and the tenant is aware.  

Had to put down $5K non-refundable deposit to secure the property to closing with hard money.

It should have an operating account and a deposit account.  

I am looking into a multifamily complex, 8 units. During the option period what should I ask for from the seller to verify that rents are being collected? What documents should I ask for to verify that expenses are ac...