Try not to tie-in substantial lessee improvements with the option exercise. 5.

I have been trying to think through this mental exercise a fair bit lately.

This is what I envision:Step 1: Find Property worth buyingStep 2: get financing for said project and do rehab to create equity ( 3 year term)Step 3: Find tenants that want to do a "rent to own" situation on a 2 year lease termStep 4: screen tenants and collect "money down/option payment" (somewhere in the realm of $5,000 and negotiate purchase price and get contract signed.Step 5: Hold the note for the 2 years and collect rent payments until tenant is ready to exercise, if they don't then sell the property for the appreciated value straight up and collect the equity.does this sound like a valid strategy, and if so can anyone provide me any insights into any potential pitfalls?  

The damaged tenant could bring a negligence suit claiming the landlord didnt exercise reasonable caution.

He told me that he travels to and from the property just to mow the lawn as a form of exercise and apparently wants to dictate the terms of the negotiation.

I would exercise plenty of due diligence before investing.  

Maintenance is delegated to the tenant/buyer that is legal and that is stated in the lease.Seller remains on the deed -it's still his-her property until the option is exercised.

This is an exercise in innovation.

I imagine the original note had an assignment of rents and when the owner had to reduce rents or had a vacancy, the bank exercised the assignment and the bank later sold the note to a note buyer, most likely for a discount.  

I could use more exercise anyway :)@Kenneth Reimer Good points to consider.