However assuming she stayed for 5+ years and the amount of equity was decent, there could be a number of investment options at that point.The simplest option would be to gift the down-payment assistance. 

I can start with the simplest and the most basic stuff, e.g.

It was more of a case of me amazing myself on the "final ingredient" It has been staring me in the face, for the past couple of years  and I just realized it.

The simplest would be for you to pay $500/month towards the mortgage and then make payments to him once the loan is paid off.  

What do you think are the three most essential ingredients?

There is allot of information out there regarding this subject that you can read on it. ( ive read through most of it by now, ive also discussed this with an attorney that is pretty active with these actions)In simplest terms, any lien holder can bring a foreclosure action. the order of what liens/mortgages get wiped out depends on what position the foreclosing lien holder is. if foreclosure auction is brought by a senior mortgage (1st position) then after the foreclosure sale the senior mortgage along with any junior mortgages or liens will be wiped out.

The simplest controllers are simply timers which allow you to program the heater to consume electricity during off-peak house (at lower rates) to heat the thermal mass.  

The simplest solution is often the best one.

@Jason Carter I do a lot of construction lending, as its complicated and most lenders don't want to mess with it :-)The simplest way to do this is to get the land free and clear.  

In it's simplest form, it is something available for purchase at a price below what you analyze the actual value to be.