If he's helping you select the property, pay him a consultation fee.Splitting the profits evenly is just ridiculous.

Tell ya what, $1,495.00 junk, I will design a marketing campaign for 2 properties, custom campaign built step by step for that exact property, for 1/2 that ridiculous $1,495.00 old outdated one size fits all stuff.

However, this is due to either ridiculous contracting rates or lack of reputable contractors.

This in itself should bring the value of the property from $5,600,000 to $7,200,000 (and this is considering a more conservative exit cap rate of 100 bp above the enter one), so at the end of the day the increased value would make the investment IRR in the 15-20%.I have a considerable amount of my portfolio in the stock market and believe me, no 2.5% dividend yield stock is going to deliver that performance over the next few years, especially considering the current inflated P/E ratios in the market, unless we gamble on ridiculous appreciation, so I fail to see how your comparison is fair.

What I am seeing (and hearing from friends) is the experience of being constantly outbid, with ridiculous offers, on properties they are trying to acquire.

My college is growing at a ridiculous rate which has created a shortage in student housing and consequently has make rents go up.

Worst case scenario will be losing both deals and selling our house at a much lower price due to the ridiculous inspection report.

You seem to dismiss the notion that COVID-19 has impacted every facet of our society and economy (which would naturally include mortgages), which is of course silly and ridiculous, which I suspect you are well aware of, so... yeah, what else are you leaving out or misrepresenting? 

Replacement was 2.5 (ridiculous) I opted for 1.5 which is still over.

Again it is ridiculous.