Inspection contingencies, appraisal contingencies, loan contingencies, etc. that allow you to back out without losing your earnest money.Most lienholders want you to be able to document that you have the money and are ready to go.

But I'm starting to see this goal as unattainable bc of the mistakes made from my 1st property. 

Don't get me wrong the money is great and there will be LOTS LOTS more to be made once the market corrects itself and all the newbies go back into hiding, but it's all about doing something good and helping others. 

I've got a homeowner ready to sell his single family house to me in Sonoma County, California. :) We are signing papers on Saturday morning so I need to prepare the purchase contract.

Soon after they moved in we made the mistake of trying to be "good landlords" and accommodated some of their requests, including a new bathroom fan. 

after 2 consecutive years of 0% rent increases on 1 year leases and now only a very minimal increase they are proposing a bill that, (ready for this one??!!!)

I also fix and flipped a house last year, just to do it, and made a little money but nothing to write home about.

The buyer made payments for a few months, ran the business into the ground, and stopped paying.

You'll find a lot of people here ready to help. 

. :)Depending on where you move in VA you may struggle finding a move in ready MF property for that price so you may either need to put some of your own capital in there (if that is an option) or do something like an FHA 203k loan to start.