Put a lien on the property(s) they own, this is needed by some court action (i.e. lawsuit in civil/criminal court) 

A FHA 203k Loan is where the purchase price and rehab costs are rolled into a single loan.The downside of using FHA or a FHA 203k is you will need to live there, for a minimum of one year (to satisfy FHA Requirements); AND because you closed personally, you will not have Asset Protection, in the form of closing in the name of a LLC.

If not from the person in office, then definitely from the person running against them.

Quote from @Michael Challenger: I have no qualms with hard money lending, but I need to learn more about the process and structure to these for typical deals so that I am more comfortable and in a position to reduce my personal risk and risk to investors as much as possible.

One caveat to this strategy is that you can’t live in a property that your IRA owns, nor can you rent it out to anyone else who may be considered a disqualified person like your spouse or child.Feel free to connect with me and send me a direct message if you want to learn more!

After hearing about, and personally encountering some horror stories of disagreements between homeowners and contractors, I am wanting to establish a clear contract to use with a new general contractor. 

Build connections with local professionals, talk to them in person, and value there time over yours.

BUTTTT there is sooooo mcuh garbage out there that you'll have to sift through to find the gold and then you have to learn it, put it in proper order, THENNNN take action. 

We are now at 21 doors under management and 3 are personal units that we self manage.

I want to exit as I don't get any personal use from the STR being 20 mins from home and would rather apply the capital to another opportunity in multifamily (LTR) or another STR in Hawaii where my brother is a broker and now manages STRs.