Selling would be easy....but I've love to keep this one as it's in a hot summer tourist town and will rent for a weekly premium!  

If he wants it bad enough he will pay a premium you simply need to negotiate your profit. 

So think of the retainer fee as an insurance premium ;)

What tips do you have for keeping insurance premiums low without comprising too much on coverage? 

At the auction, if you win, you pay bid price, plus 10% buyers premium, plus plus taxes due for current year, plus $10 deed recording fee.  

asking price was 195K I counter-offered with 185K based on my calculations (NOI,Cap rate and other numbers to truly calculate how much the fourplex is worth based on the NOI)I have self-mastered the ways of calculating investments/rental properties to know how much is the right price, to know if I am submitting an offer at a discount, to know if I am submitting an offer at a premium, etc.some of the books i have read is the millionaire  real estate investor but found it rather basic, since it is common sense generally.I am in this for real estate venture for the long haul, everyday I am thinking about it, that's what keeps me going and pushing, it is fun.

(Since we're house hacking I want to make sure that we don't have to deal with safety issues.)I'm obviously hunting for value here but I'm willing to pay the Lakewood premium for value that surfaces in the form of quality of life.

Then add ALL costs related to holding the property (utility costs, insurance premiums, property taxes, loan payments, etc.).Concessions: Concessions are what you give back to the buyer at closing.

So they paid for a new fridge and gave me $35.I plan on them replacing my water heater and possibly my stove this year as well (EoL).I've paid a total of 1,400.68 in the past two years in premiums and service calls/Freon costs for ~$2,000 of HVAC work, a new fridge and new garbage disposal.

I will edit that post.