@Andrew Moore it’s a standard VA loan, which actually happened to go down hill fast.

This will weed out crummy tenants and also give you more security if things go down hill.(5) perform regular walk throughs!

If you let him get his way once its gonna go down hill very quick.

This must be taking a toll to on yours and her relationship.This is why I never, ever do business with family or friends.When things go downhill, now you have to deal with seeing them at company holiday dinners, ugghhhh.I am not familiar with the NY landlord-tenant laws but know that, should this be processed as an eviction, what you are doing currently whether or not it shows up in court is not right and legally could work against you.Trust me, I really do empathize with you and your situation and it seems like this Brother in Law is really taking advantage of you, but don’t correct this wrong with another.Follow the legal process to get him out, talk to your wife to see if she can intervene at all, but it seems he may not listen to her either and just does not care.So my laughter is because I cannot for the life of me see how someone can think that this kind of behavior is right to do to anyone, leave alone your family.This man/boy should be ashamed of himself for putting you and your wife/his sister through this mess.After this, I suggest you be very careful about inviting family over for those extended stays that never seem to end. 

It is completely below grade at the front side of the house, and the land goes downhill front-to-back, so the backside is completely above-grade.

Well snow melts , and water flows down hill .

After this email exchange things started going downhill.10% upon contract signing to get on schedule15% upon completion of the first week's work with significant changes25% at half of project completion 25% when big tickets are completed25% at the final walk through and sign off of the project as completeHis response;Sorry bud I’m firm on my deposit and the way I run my business .

As the summer rolled though, things started to slide downhill.  

A MTM rental agreement, as opposed to a longer term lease, may give you more flexibility if things start going downhill. 

I see way too many out of state investors get lied to and buy an over priced property and then fail to maintain it and it goes downhill fast.