A Creative Finance Lawsuit can be brought by the Attorney General, the DOJ, FDIC, and on and on among others because it involves banks, wire transfers, possible fraud, possible identity theft, possible equity skimming, possible violations of the Consumer Protection Act, Dodd-Frank, ACT S.A.F.E.

If they fail to acknowledge your claim, then your contractor license board consumer department can help you out.

I'm in Atlanta, GA which gives me fewer options with that budget unless I go with condos with HOA's that allow rentals, or venture out to towns outside of Atlanta like Macon, GA, Athens, Lagrange etc...

Expect my insurance goes up and hoping for fewer problems in the remaining year and the future.

Have your attorney draw up a lease and purchase option to ensure your compliance with consumer protection laws.

.$20k-$50k is a good amount to fund 2-3x improvements for people looking to sell with clear improvement scopes of work with trustworthy contractors on 2nds up to 60% LTV.These are harder to find, especially with fewer people selling, but I suppose a network of agents,  title cos and lenders would help source opportunities in this space. 

Fortunately we had the financial position to be able to "leave them at the alter" and go a different direction, however most consumers may not be as fortunate or prepared.

Only thing is a STR is more time and mind/thought consuming than a IRA.

Its a great market and there are fewer buyers right now. 

Not ideal and not the route I'd advocate, but bearable.In other instances, in which a financial/tax service provider promotes non-compliance to unwitting consumers, the potential costs can be astronomical to all clients.Consumers of financial & tax services should always seek - and get - total transparency from their service/product providers.