I have been working on one of those very landlords since the fall.

If the deal is good enough, the rest will fall into place if you have created the network. 

Money always makes people come around, if not walk away there will be another deal tomorrow.I am in a similar situation, negotiating with a self managing seller since last fall.

Their product is the Seminar - - students get trivial cookie cutter info in return and walk away ASSUMING this is easy stuff - - only to fall into the pit of all the details they did not learn before plunking down the 40k.

The policy has no deductible, covers if the dog scratches, nips, bites, causes a fall to both humans and other animals. 

Yes, there is a risk that their value quickly falls in a market crash, but I feel that statistics are on my side, and that I can make up for that risk by having a large amount of money in relatively liquid index funds.

Been in this business 15 years, and seen the good, the bad, and the ugly ... watched all those newbies shoot past me by playing aggressive in 2007, only to watch them fall and I blew right past them in 2009.

The one deal that I had did not fall through (owner backed out for "personal reasons").

I understand real estate, how to negotiate and what makes sense... but math is where I fall apart.

Be there when you need to be there, immediately, in a case of fire, of hurt and fall.