first rule....never do business with friends or family. Get them a referral commission of about 15% and get someone else. I've been a realtor, and just recently let my license lapse..in a hot market if you are representing the seller, you would be ill advising them to take an offer that is contingent on another house selling and closing by a certain time...it is a mess...I don't know if that is your situation...but you might just have spared yourself a whole lot of trouble..maybe not...have you looked into duplexes, triplexes etc? They are often priced differently, based on income you can get...so sometimes there are very good bargains.. mg