For “regular” lease option deals, where I’m assuming investors put 20% down, does the investor intend to collect an option consideration that covers his original down payment?

It may not make sense to purchase a coin operated machine as they are soo much pricier than regular machines.

I’ll be reminding myself of these on a regular basis!

You should never quit your day job until you have your real estate business producing at a level that you can survive.

Frankly speaking we just don't have the population dynamics or the geographic constraints that it would take to produce a true PoP investment strategy like you can find in Tier 1 metros or quickly growing 2nd and 3rd tier metros with geographic barriers.To illustrate this, I would recommend driving down each street between NW 10th and NW30th, from May to Classen and back. 

Instead of putting a huge down payment on a property that in some cases will not cash flow as a regular rental, then it's better to start with arbitrage, and then decide between more arbitrage or buying HOUSES now that he has experience.

I assure you no agent is going to take you on with off markets if you wont show your loyalty to them working on the regular inventory also. 

I regularly receive text, emails and paper mail, even people knocking on my door from my "utility company" and it's a dead ringer for their letterhead sometimes even, but fake nonetheless.And to be clear is it for sewer lateral (waste line) replacement or the incoming service line of clean water to your rental?

Your criteria should match your investing goals.My deal criteria includes three main categories: Location, Team & Value Add.Location: Must be in a city that is growing in population, in a neighborhood that would attract good tenants, and in an area that would appreciate over time.Team: In order to do a deal I must be able to get good lending terms from my lending team, must have a property manager who can manage it, and an investor agent who can negotiate the deal.Value Add: A deal must have the ability to hit double-digit COC returns, allows for forced appreciation, and produce $200 - $400 net cash flow per unit [depending on size of property].If a deal meets all of the above criteria, then the checklist comes up during due diligence.

For instance, I always wanted to have a portfolio of passive income-producing assets.