Look at the credit report, there is probably a LOT more going on!

Using a tiered deposit system based on credit score can be risky legally if it's not applied uniformly.

Imagine if credit bureaus could enable collection of information regarding cash for keys agreements You're absolutely right—landlords often rely on eviction records to assess tenant risk, but that only captures part of the picture.

In the industry, we referred to them as "margin lines" where you are leveraging the value of your securities portfolio to provide access to line of credit fundings.While banks can differ in their "margins", but the banks I've worked with used a 50% LTV "margin".

But as said hard money lenders look at the deal 1st, your experience second and your credit 3rd.  

I know they have some energy efficient tax credits for homeowners. 

Basically it is a way for PM to increase their fee and it hurts owners.

As you save clean up your credit.

Even though the original party may no longer be responsible for the debt per court order, their credit is still on the line, and nonperformance on the trade in question will wreck the original borrower's credit.

Like the poster above mentioned, you may want to spend a bit on the repairs mentioned, or you could put in the description that seller will give credit of "X" amount to take care of them post closing or similar.