I have great credit thanks to the myfico forums and a total credit limit of $14,000 I have no debt and just pay my cell phone bill and the Verizon triple play package bill for my household which totals about $200 a month.

Risk tolerance & lifestyle will define the playing fieldHow close to the edge can you and the family tolerate?

I am working with a real estate attorney who is quite familiar with the legal side so I may not know all of the terminology and play-by-play but I'm not worried about the transaction going smoothly.

You only close when they can give you possession; otherwise you have to play games to get them out.

What is my ideal play here?

Marital property laws will be in play as well as estate matters, comingling assets can be avoided with proper legal guidance.

I negotiate contracts for a living, if we are doing something "different', I write a contract and send it to attorney for review,,we work together to get something that accomplishes what I want, and still is legal and offers the protection he wants.If I am making very minor changes to that agreement I go ahead and make them (minor terms etc), but if any change is very complex, I run it back by the attorney.I have read and reviewed thousands of contracts in my life, and I very rarely miss anything, but I am not an attorney, and am constantly surprised by some small change an attorney will make that gives us better protection.If you didn't go to law school, don't play lawyer

You gotta use high end guys on high end homes, $40k will go FAST up there on that kinda house I would think, that is not a big rehab budget on a $650k home, even in high priced areas.You can look at the profit and decide if that's worth the time, of course, but I usually regret it if I play with the percentages. 

You can even play the credit card cash advance game to get a quick $5,000 to $10,000 or so for a 3% transaction fee as long as you pay it off in the 12-18 months no interest period.

Without that there is a lot less incentive for the seller to play ball.