You can use your commission for down and closing.  

Quote from @Eric James: I'll continue the strategy I've been using for the last 2-3 years, building small apartment buildings.

Or REQUIREMENTS for personal use. 

The security deposit must be kept in escrow, but it belongs to the tenant until the PM have documentation allowing them to contractually use those funds for damages. 

@Brent Richardson, welcome to BP and the forums.

For a bit of context, my wife and I recently moved to Tennessee and after renting for a bit we are just about to close on our first property.

Even without those challenges you had, it was still probably hard to find a buyer because of the use mix.  

(It could take 8 years to get to today’s market rent, if market rent didn’t increase $1 during those 8 years.  

But I purchased land in cash and leveraged it to build a new construction stick built home.

As we have all seen, Californians are leaving in droves over the past couple of years, and fleeing to Florida, Texas and yep...Arizona.As long as we continue to stay under LAs housing market for affordability, we are going to continue to net those homeowners wanting an upgrade to a bigger house or lot.