Some things I can think of are : 1) specify in the contract who are the allowable lenders or have the right to approve the selected lender  2) require updates on progress of the loan from the buyer or the lender  3)  is there any info I can get on the buyer to indicate how likely he/she is to obtain the loan? 

The tenant I had would self-file bankruptcy and then get notices sent to out indicating should could not be contacted. 

This is your first post, which seems to indicate you havnt posted a property here before?

If the nation's beach towns this past weekend are any indication, people are not going to shy away from anything.Too answer your question, it's too early to know...and it would take a tremendous amount of research.

Usually when you have great profit margins, such as those that you outlined, it means the value of the property is low, which usually indicates that it's in an unfavorable part of town.There are of course always exceptions, but we can't really give you a position on whether it's a good or a bad investment based on what you've provided thus far.

(I indicated that in the drop-down choices for property type. 

The data is always changing, properties come and go, deals require work to find, etc.The best indicators for an emerging market to me are - increase in job numbers/population growth, with a stable affordability index (prices in the market are stable).

But as indicated above, very neighborhood dependent I think.

I have had discussions with friends and family who indicated interest but when things got real and I was discussing providing a 12% return people were still very reluctant - ultimately there is too much worry and if you have never done this before its hard to pull the trigger. 

In a strong sellers' market like we're in today, I'm typically only making low offers on properties that have sat on the market for several weeks, or if I have some other indication that there is some price flexibility.