I've never heard of a investor buying a straight buy and hold now (or in the last decade or two).

I can completely understand your rationale for not wanted to lower you prices (so it makes sense to say you'll never give a discount), but if you are willing to lower your prices in certain cases, I'd think doing so from the start will be more likely to get you the benefits of that lower price -- repeat business.Now, if you're just saying that many "investors" will tell you they'll use you on other jobs, but most of them never have any other jobs, then that's just part of your due diligence.

Keeping the books straight is fundamental to running a successful business.My $0.02.

Calculated a nice discount to cover the lights for the last 18 months we have owned the property, and offered double the cost as a monthly discount until the electrician can do the job.

The remaining 10k would be depreciated over 5 years.It will qualify; however, you may want to straight line depreciate it or just take bonus depreciation to push some expenses to next year.

The only time you should skip contingencies is if the property is extremely discounted and you know it needs major repairs going in, maybe a flip or a cheap foreclosure, otherwise always do inspections.

Takes time, but get to know them, don't approach them straight on, talk up your success on a deal, just drop the fact you could do more with partners.

It would be the best to find a lawyer that understands the Dodd Frank law to give you straight answers, but I think it is a wait and see how the law will effect everyone.

Is there any potential liability, as an investor, buying an estate property at a discount, under market value, for a profit?

And what's the reason for the deep discount?