Boom, down payment secured. 8 bedroom rooming house.

I pride my self on being able to be the person that people would want to use over and over and feel secure referring to friends.

You are a lender (our friend is not) so I’m guessing your words carry more weight!

I usually just keep the security deposit which they seem to expect.

Looking to secure funds from a bank or HML on a property of $30k or less seems to be quite the challenge. 

Their SOP actually seems pretty easy and straightforward - they will create a lease addendum to reflect the new PM/security deposit holder (me).

At this point I’ve secured my lending and officially started the hunt for properties.

At first I told them that a 14 day deposit hold is $100 non refundable and put towards there security deposit, and we could make the deposit to hold extended to 30 days for a additional $100 non refundable fee that does NOT go towards anything (accept my pocket).

It will be April sooner than you think.Often it comes down to being able to pay the security deposit on the new place before having gotten it back from the old place.

Deals already sell extremely fast in this market and without a non-refundable down payment it becomes harder for the real investors to secure good deals, not easier.Also about the deal fees.