To your original question Karen, as private lenders you are going to get deals where borrowers have low credit scores or are in tricky financial situations.

I’m Karena, based in Danbury, Connecticut, and excited to officially join the Bigger Pockets community after lurking for a couple of months, soaking up all the knowledge I can!

Hey Karen, A misconception about the real estate professional status (REPS) is that you can be in a real property trade or business (in your case, broker) and still qualify.

Originally posted by @Karena Willis:@Joshua Dayrit, Newbie here.

Hi Karena,I think the $17 is not a loss at all.

Hi Karen,As I understand it from your posts on here you and your husband likely qualify as real estate professionals. 

Karen - A quick calculation that i have seen work multiple times is this (assuming that demo, construction costs and sales prices are not exotic or out of line):If your total sales revenue is 5-6x your land cost, you probably have a deal worth taking a hard look at.

@Karen A. visual condition will tell you a lot about a property.

Hello, My name is Karen. A

Mike, the lease does state that if it is broken they forfeit the deposit. ( just not sure how that pertains to the military.)Karen, As a veteran myself, and understand the hardships of being in the military.