You can add language that says, you cannot exercise your Option for the 1st (fill in a timeline) years. 

But its like internet dating one does need to exercise some caution.

All I wanted from this exercise was to get my foot in the water but seems like I just took 100 steps backward judging from the 0 responses.

(Meaning you can control real estate by buying an option to purchase it later and exercise the option when the time is right)

I talk to everyone about what I do...and I mean everyone - guy came out to do a site inspection for access to credit header info for one of my lead sources and before I knew it he's telling me about two properties he sees when he rides his bike for exercise.

For me, it was an exercise in taking action to get started, and seeing what I could learn along the way.

But again, exercise control, don't buy a boat.Using a HELOC to get rid of PMI would be a smart move, assuming the HELOC rate is reasonable.

Also start going to meetups and do some exercises like picking a target market!

It seems to me that soliciting someone with an offer to buy their house should be more of a "focused" exercise rather a "hit or miss" type of one ( mailings to me seem like just throwing a dart at the dartboard and hoping for a good lead...it's not really addressing the "real" distressed/motivated sellers who really want someone to help them).

After visiting the home & gently pointing out a few structural issues, I offered her $5,000.