Does the seller pay any utilities for the tenants or bill backs?

It is like any other negotiations, if you have the only roof top in town, you have the power.  

My experience has been to PreQual the candidates with their on-line lenders otherwise I was ending up with Candidates that could only afford the Lease if they did not pay ANY of their other bills:-(

Level 1: the "are we remotely close to offer price" analysis  Take the gross potential income and allocate 50% - 60% (exact percentage is determined by property age, amenities, and current condition) of it towards expenses Then take NOI and divide by cap rate which gives us the high-level valuation This takes 5 - 10 min to do side note: another way to do this is knowing the average expenses per unit per year for that property time in that market then allocating that towards expenses instead of the 50% - 60% Level 2: the "ok, let's get serious and specific" analysis  If after doing Level 1 it makes sense to continue then Level 2 is done In Level 2, you use property and market specific information to run your analysisSome (but not all) things to consider for the specific market/property: taxes and how they are evaluated, vacancy trends, what's currently being billed to residents vs. what could be billed to residents (i.e. water), etc. 

bill, the back door was installed incorrectly, I cleaned, I painted, and all I hear are excuses and how I'm responsible.

Yes, Bill is referring to the FSBO acknowledgment.

@Bill Gulley my suggestions on using up your income was exaggerated to make the point that charging liens are extremely difficult to collect, because owners can always find creative ways not to make any money, and even if they do they can just leave it in the company and not take distributions.  

hi karl. sounds like you actually have a good start here in this business. bill is partly right. of all the answers here, i think he has some good advice. that being said, you need the think outside of the box here. you said you will have $80k into the place if you fix it up to basic standards, and it would be worth $150k. ok, those numbers are great. but here is an idea you don't seem to be considering. you own the house free and clear. no mortgage to anyone. you and your buddy want cash out of the deal. then your only option right now that really makes sense is to finish the place to basic standards, go refinance the place for what the bank will lend you, split that money and then rent the place out to make the payments. you get the benefit of getting all your money back, plus a few buck on the side i would bet, and when you rent it out, the tenant is making your payments. whats wrong with that idea???

Even though you will be out of pocket up front for the expense, it will take years to get all of the tax deduction.5) Choosing your tax strategies with legal entities and exchanges will change the timing of your tax bill and the tax rate at which you pay.

Just the only advantage I see is one tax bill and /or perhaps easier to include the vacant land into financing.