The hardball approach would be to have them ante up and conform to the contract at a cost of around $90k if the $1k/M of coverage is accurate.With regards to the extended rental value indemnification of 18mo, I have not been able to get any premium information yet with regards to what the difference between 18 months and 12 months may be. 

Hello, I am approaching closing date on our first rental property and one of our renovations we are going to do is concrete counter tops.

That puts me at a negative cash flow and would require a much more aggressive approach to adding the value which I'm not sure I'm up for. 

Iḿ nice and fair by nature but like someone said earlier, I take the middle of the road approach.

The better approach is to specifically market to those people who would be good candidates for seller financing, and then make a deal from there.

What are key approaches I need to have when doing this? 

I had purchased a building in 2009 in the Old West End and I was standing outside when a man approached me saying he owned a 45 unit apartment building with a 30 car parking garage across the street that he wanted to sell to me.

If they had a verbal agreement with the last tenant,   and the last tenant gave notice or has officially abandoned per definition thereof  (you can look for things like them having cancelled their utility accounts, emptied unit of their belongings, etc)  then they can't prove anything and maybe you can use that approach.   

I'm noob and just building my own goals so helpful to see other approaches.

Sounds like you are approaching "Hurt City".