Also hearing better than market results from those who are self managing as consumers continue to buck excessive fees by seeking to book direct.  

@Sarah Taylor From a tax perspective, you would lose the STR tax benefit if you expect paper losses from the property.

My business partner refused in fear of losing another $2k and also because wire transfers to a company is very fishy.

California charges a minimum tax of $800 a year per LLC, and more if you have gross receipts in excess of $250k.

Have you ever heard of a Landlord being sued by a Tenant and losing property?

The best thing you can do without going to court and in this case 50/50 chance of losing, negotiation them down on their price.

Just make sure you have a real investment plan laid out because it doesn't benefit you to pull the trigger just to end up losing money every month or losing the property because the numbers don't work.

Also, since you never gave the keys for possession, highly unlikely a judge will even allow you to deduct per diem rent from the SD.After losing a couple of court cases on scenarios similar to yours, we huddled with our attorneys, who recommended charging a Holding Fee.We have a Holding Fee Agreement we require prospects to sign to hold a property until they later sign a lease.

We will lose out on $100k but get our cash out and the new investor will clear $100k by sitting on a deal for a year (while collecting rents).Does this seem feasible or something that would be attractive to an investor?

I have not charged them late fees, but in totality, it could excess $1k.