Your buddy is going to get thrown out for breaking the lease if he doesn’t start paying his rental obligation 

It sounds like you are probably breaking Missouri law by brokering without a license, as you have no plans nor ability to close on the house yourself.Honestly, I think you are about to find yourself in a world of hurt.

Yes, this was during the holidays of Christmas and New Year's so I wasn't expecting a miracle but after so many weeks and excuses, other things transpired and I decided it was time to cut my losses and move on. 

However, if your metal system has a break in the ground somewhere (due to a loose connection somewhere) you will need to trace it back and find it so you can tighten it.So, if you do in fact have a metal system, then the first thing to check is if the panel itself is grounded - that could be the whole problem right there. 

She just called me and said shes breaking her lease in 30 days and wants her deposit back as well as the money for the upcoming months.

Try breaking down what it is that is causing you to experience 'fear' in taking action.Try setting yourself smaller commitments that will get you towards your goal and list out what the risks are and how you might mitigate them.An example of a commitment would be to make x offers per week on target propertiesBreaking down a risk might be something like-Risk - target rents not achieved-Action/Mitigation - analyze comps to give you more confidence in the rental rates, model the deal more conservatively so that you can see if it works with lower ratesetc.Do a bit of research and I am sure that you can find lots of actionable help on how to overcome fear of taking action.

I said this in another post, if you break the law (but the internet said it was legal) those forum posters aren’t going to come bail you out.

I graduate from my master's soon and I'm interested in breaking into the industry.

Hi all, I currently rent, but am considering buying a 2 bedroom condo/townhouse.The main issue: I only plan to live in this property for 1-5 years (unknown, depends on career moves), so long term I'd like to be able to rent it out with at least break-even cashflow.I think the main problem is though that in any desirable living area, it's pretty tough to do this. 

I am trying to break into real-estate investing.