But as I am sure as you well know when you think you see an apparent deal no matter where it is located you get that instant impulse that you can make it work.  

Without an exclusive they will waste six months of my time and then buy something on impulse from a listing they find on StreetEasy or Trulia.I have a contract with investors that obligates them to pay my commission only on a property that I bring to them.

@Mike H.I am starting to feel like the stupid investor.But to tell you the truth it was an impulse move, but looking at the numbers does it not look like a good deal ?

Use my knowledge of the steps to a business conversation, building value, steps to building impulse through conversation, closing, rehashing (which, in my experience, real estate professionals don't do NEAR enough) etc etc.  

My first impulse was to cut the cord into about 15 pieces and throw them over the fence to his backyard.  

Amazon prime means impulse shopping and/or wasting time streaming movies. 

@Jason White,My first impulse is to say no matter how much you have available you'll want to invest for income in retirement to ensure that your money is growing at such a rate that you drawing your living expenses from it will not deplete the principal during your expectable lifetime.You may want to read up on self-directed retirement accounts and other ways of being a private money lender.My personal thoughts on buying property with no loans is that its roughly equivalent to gambling in the Wall Street Casino.

Another perspective is: The business is the seminar and attached impulse buying that it produces. 

My first impulse is to swap the carpet for high durability laminate.

No one who lives on a small city lot really wants to go to the mess and expense of getting rid of a problem tree, so if it's a maple or an oak, it just grows and grows and grows...Because the repair runs in the thousands (as you've seen) when the owner of an aging investment property learns that they have a compromised sewer line, there's a strong impulse to hide the defect and sell.