Get good insurance, and sleep well.

I did a search for Option to Purchase and didn't quite find the answer I was looking for.I'm looking at wholesaling and see that as a good way to find deals, add value, and build capital so that I may become a self-sufficient real estate investor.

In the commercial space, a vendor carry-back is often a second mortgage which enables the buyer to lower his/her downpayment from 25% to 10 - 15%.If you had a primary mortgage on a property at an excellent rate - say 3% - and have accumulated sufficient equity (say 50%), but an opportunity has fallen in your lap and you need to pull out some of that equity.  

I was thinking that a $100k/yr income would be sufficient to allow for spending and saving.  

A CD in a bank will make money while you sleep.

I can hear the phones ringing off the hook in my sleep-- still!

You seem conflicted on how you are going to treat your tenants .On the one hand you want to be a nice guy and let them change terms of agreements on the other hand you want to take their security deposits I suggest you treat you rentals as a business cut and dry you can be fair and honest with people with out ripping them off or shortchanging yourself.READ over your leases and the state laws If your are honest and firm with your tenants you will sleep better at night. 

It was a small galley kitchen with sufficient light, with small adjacent dining area with appropriate over head table lighting.  

If they plan on negative cash flow in the first year or two - do they have sufficient reserves?

How much sleep are you losing.