Hey @Kimberly Gillock These are the things normally included in closing costs: A fee for running your credit report.A loan origination fee, which lenders charge for processing the loan paperwork for you.Attorney’s fees.Charges for any inspection required or requested by the lender or you.Discount points, which are fees you pay in exchange for a lower interest rate.Appraisal fee.Survey fee, which covers the cost of verifying property lines.Title insurance, which protects the lender in case the title isn’t clean.Title search fees, which pay for a background check on the title to make sure there aren't things such as unpaid mortgages or tax liens on the property.Escrow deposit, which may pay for a couple months' property taxes and private mortgage insurance.Pest inspection fee.Recording fee, which is paid to a city or county in exchange for recording the new land records.Underwriting fee, which covers the cost of evaluating a mortgage loan application.I crossed out the items which you shouldn't have to pay for if you are doing straight seller financing.  

I put a notice on his door 3 days ago to remove the personal items.

One check and you could probably even squeeze in triple net type items for the most part.

Roth IRAYou can also convert item 2 to item 3 by laddering.  

No single item will ever push you over budget its just when you decide on a 100 different items and each time you go with the more expensive item you quicky can be a 20k over budgetDefine, define define a scope of work .

I also plan on hitting lowes with a big list of items to price out.

So far the common denominator among the responses that I've received (posted in a few categories) is that having an outline of some sort to track what items needs to be fixed to bring the property up to standard is the first step.

If you are really worried about the legality of the form, then you could always buy one for your first deal...I did a google search and clicked on the first item that came up:http://www.uslegalforms.com/Georgia.htmThere are a number of different types of contracts that you can use to accomplish the same thing..option, earnest money, purchase and sales etc...all you need is an ownership interest, or as jon said to be a "principle" to the transaction.

You may also want to include in your package recently sold props that support your offer.An itemized list of needed repairs w/price quotes from licensed contractors.I'd also advise you to offer in the high side of your comfort range once you have a history of performance the banks will be much more willing to work with you.If you are low-balling these offers what kinda percentage would you say get accepted?

As buyer, you really only need to worry about lienable items.