Some potential tenants are not very self-aware or they don't think that having pictures of them straight up smoking weed will be an issue.  

Then yes the option fee is your payment.Take the focus off the fee and run the numbers for the seller on a straight sale vs a LO.

I’d be careful of doing the work yourself because if the bank still thinks the contractor is doing the work, and he/she submits request for release of funds, the money goes straight to the contractor and not to you.  

That’s my issue with the strategy - it only makes sense as compared to straight up renting the place out if you’re banking on collecting lease option fees from people who aren’t qualified to buy.

If you're not wanting to use leverage you could still 1031 straight across and basically double your cash flow. 

Hello everyone, my question is quite straight forward, if i'm estimating the potential property value to be around $250,000; How much of a deposit should I anticipate my HML require from me?

In addition to all the above, I'm making the property non-smoking, requiring first month/1 month security deposit, $250 pet deposit, $40/adult for background check (I'd only do this when I'm pretty sure that I'd choose the tenant-gets paid straight to smartmove, so it's not like I'm making money on it). 

I am not necessarily looking for a straight shot answer but I want to see what has worked for you guys within this community as I am looking to make a major move come 2019.

Will try to find out why cash only.. this seems to be a common hurdle - trying to find good deals with out straight up cash!

Most of it is straight up about just developing in general and not architecture specific, which is very interesting in its own right, but there are two chapters in the middle that are specific to the developer/architect relationship.