In that same vein, the strategies that worked for real estate investors during the strong bull markets of 2001-2004, will need to be re-structured during times when real estate prices are wobbling or beginning to ebb.

<I then asked about restructuring my rental business in any way to improve things.

Investors can restructure or renegotiate the loan to get it re-performing, then either sit on the cash flow or sell the note at a higher valuation.BP has a book written by @Dave Van Horn on the topic

I'm currently reorganizing and restructuring my rentals from being a sole-proprietor landlord to having an S-corp for managing properties.I just set up S-corp for managin the properties January 2017.

The goal was to sell, pay off the mortgage & debt, then have about $70,000 left over with which to buy another primary residence (smaller and cheaper), using about $25,000 for down payment, and then use the rest to purchase rental which would require 20% down, right.Then, I started thinking....if we could either refinance or get a HELOC or home equity loan, we could re-structure that student loan debt stopping the compound interest and getting a lower interest rate altogether, stay in our home and then, in the new year, make this house the rental (without having to put 20% down as investment because we would already have the loan) and purchase a NEW primary residence with only 3 - 5% down.

If you buy one that is already nonperforming you should be able to follow through with restructuring, foreclosing, ect.

Meaning if "ABC Carpet Cleaning" had income in 2016 and then closed, and "XYZ Car Wash" opened in 2017, you don't get to average or mix those two -- "XYZ Car Wash" needs to be open for two tax years, "ABC Carpet Cleaning" will be calculated at $0 per year.It's also the case that restructuring your business can in some cases reset that two year clock.

It can be a rude awakening for someone who's never missed a payment on their chimerical loan to be turned down for a refinance simply because the bank is trying to restructure their balance sheet.

I am not inclined to dive too far into this but you should go seek a local experienced tax professional who is familiar with Troubled Debt Restructuring (TDR) and the guidance that has been issued by FASB over the last couple years.

A reasonable compromise would be ROFO or restructuring the ROFR to drastically expedite his option and inspection time-frame as well as to require earnest money in conjunction with the refusal.