The tax and regulatory environment in Cook County is dismal.

While there is still a lot of regulatory uncertainty around JOBS Act legislation, there are certainties around existing regulations, some of which allow unaccredited investors, like Regulation A, or intrastate crowdfunding, which bypasses the federal regulations.

Fourth, I have zero interest in subjecting myself to the regulatory authority of the local real estate commission or other realtors.  

Or you  can mentor an able bodied person in real estate investing in trade for tile help. 

Understand too that a mortgage is a security and it's regulatory side is exempt under conditions, when you start slicing and dicing interests with investors you can find yourself in trouble.The other problem is that on the investor's side, someone has to get paid from foreclosure proceeds first, it's not an even distribution, one cent off and it's not even so saying you split 30% of a note, the question is which 30%, and who gets what when?

Also, the paint stores have all the cards with the pre-matched selections of colors for the body of the house, trim, etc.

Imagine what its doing inside your body :-)

Once paid off, they're out of the deal completely.I don't know what, if any, regulatory issues you may encounter in MO.

You gotta want it, like your body wants to breathe.

If it's tight and there is no regulatory issue and no evidence of failure, leave it alone.