. - I bet some folks will chime in.Mike

FYI – I am still responsible for shoveling other areas and also mowing the lawn.They were understanding and agreed to accept the front walk responsibility without any adjustment to the rent.

I will take the blame for lack of marketing and adjust so my deals aren't taking forever to sell.

This may not be the answer that you want to hear, but I would suggest partnering with an experienced investor and potentially having him/her provide some of the financing.That's the best bet in my mind, you can take the learning experience as your profit on the deal.

If you decide to stick with SB, just know how to run numbers and unfortunately flipping is probably your best bet (unfortunate in the since that it's high capital required to do it in SoCal).

Don't bet on it that there is another offer.

That's a suckers bet.

Lenders won't be looking to fair market rents as they do with lease-options and adjusting your equity.

I've asked the tenant TWICE to make arrangements with my sprinkler repair guy to come over and replace old sprinkler heads and adjust the system.

@Stephen Masek you're right, there should always be contingencies and you should always hedge your bet.