I pay her a discounted price and tell her to get the full price she must provided itemized receipts.  

Luckily I'm not seeing the craziness that was 2020 and 2021 such as offers 50K over asking, waived inspection and appraisal contingencies, etc but you still have to put your best foot forward. - Currently, most deals we are getting under contract are at least at asking and maybe 5K-10K over at most.

There are many alternatives you can use, I would urge you to check your local laws but I know here in Cleveland, OH we can charge an increased deposit or we can also require a guarantor (who can have different credit req. then someone living in the unit) It's important that no matter what you do you do it for everyone going forward, making exceptions for screening for some but not all can become a Fair Housing issue. 

I've talked to a few agents in Memphis, and the impression is that vacancies are up, rents are down, but prices ARE NOT trending down? 

PennyMac will definitely not allow this.They do conforming loans, conforming loans cannot be in an LLC.You would need to refinance into a NON QM Loan.I would consider a DSCR Loan depending on the LTV and your DTI.With a low LTV a DSCR Loan can price out the same or less than a conventional loan.You then calculate how many years worth of tax savings it would take in order to recoup closing costs to see if it's worth doing it.Feel free to reach out I can give you a quote in minutes with no credit pull.

The low entry price is tempting, but my opinion (usually unsolicited but not this time!) 

Answer: Best to use a funder, for the 1st couple of deals to get experience and get a 2nd opinon on pricing.

Lower your price, but never your standards.I would be a little more open to it if they pay everything up front, but that is an example of "lowering your standards."

In the under $400k price point I'd look at Fairfax, Alexandria (not the brick garden buildings, but newer buildings) and Springfield.

Any links to threads on how to find, price and close on these?