There is not agreement that can go south...unless this was a Land Contract, an not an option. 3 - There is not Interest rate, amortization, or balloon payment in a Lease Option. 

Annotate the details.

You only need to annotate that on the sale contract and you keep that as a source document for your treatment of amounts to depreciate, that shows what you paid.

if you purchase a property with hard money, you can refinance with a new appraisal in about 3 months, as long as you made improvements on the property.I would be concerned that one lender has turned you down because they ""think' you are buying an investment property an not planning on living in it,,they must have some reason for thinking that,,or something that could turn up with the next lender,,you could end up going from lender to lender, appraisal to appraisal,,and that will get expensisve

I have known a few who loved talking about what they do and how they do it, you might be there for an hour an not get a bill!

an noticed a really crappy house standing out like a sore thumb.

I still used a checkbook for tracking expenses but I had to use Excel's comment feature for annotating details for repairs when multiple repairs/improvements occurred in a given month (which occurred a lot last year over the summer since we renovated the house and apt before we rented them).We recently closed on a 9 unit apt building in our hometown and still have the 2 units out of state.

At that point they realize I an not a person wanting to do this for myself, rather for my own business?

I am not working with an agent and I am an not one myself so as far as I understand, the offer could literally just be some simple words written up on a piece of paper.

I would ALWAYS suggest including the local police non emergency line, that comes in handy often and prevents unnecessary 911 calls.Even if utilities are paid by you, it's not a bad idea to include the numbers of your eclectic, gas, and water providers- even if their names aren't on accounts, they can find out when power will be restored quickly (saving you or PM a three am call maybe)As far as gifts go and actual items, things that would apply to most everyone in being useful seem like a good idea (an not offensive in any way like scented candles - those items are not across the board items) but things like nice dish towels, simple kitchen tools/gadgets, a welcome mat, fridge notepads and nice pens, etc.