There's acutally a home improvement contractors license that you can get in NJ all you need is to fill out the application and have minimum $500,000 general liability insurance and a bond with the state.

I am considering purchasing a couple of acres close to a cute downtown in SC. 

I'd rather pay a little extra and not get a cut-rate mortgage, and in return get someone I can trust and work with again and again.But many banks do limit you to 4 conventional mortgages, and 10 conventional mortgages across all banks.  

In reality I have a cut and paste response asking that (politely) and asking THEM a few questions,  as clearly most can't see or don't read the whole ad.  

You hear all these smug guys on this site selling one or another system to buy and renovate portfolios of 200-300 units talking about how easy it is for them to get contractors to remodel their bathrooms at a cut rate and you realize that all of these places being "renovated" have this kind of thing behind the walls, greenboard tile showers, and of course the regular drywall surrounds covered by glue-up surrounds.

Once the flips are completed, I get a cut of the profits.

You have to be especially careful of over the counter liens as those are usually the ones rejected by all the investors who attended whatever sale/acution held by the county when the lien was first offered.

Depending on where it is (you should tell us the state) the license could be hard to get so you have to pay someone a cut to use their license or they could be hacks that can't be bothered to pass the test and get it.

If they were using it like a hotel room that they rent by the hour then I would want a cut.

I'm just looking forward to the day when they cart him dead out of there and I end up owning both sides of this duplex, probably at a cut rate because his kid apparently wants nothing to do with him.