She pays the rent early every month, with a smile on the envelope, and is just great.The only time I ever had to get mad at her since the eviction threat was when it was 95 degrees, her AC went out on a Friday, and she waited until Monday to call me "so she did not disturb my weekend."

Michaela G, I was successful in getting the waterbill off my property by calling WSBTV reporter (who turned out to be no help at all except for the threat of using him seemed to get attention) and sending a letter demanding a copy of the "Lien" against my property since there was no recorded FIFA according to the country records. 

Sometimes, a clear, well presented threat provides the additional leverage needed to get the 2nd mortgage holder to work with her.  

Threats are the best tool to use when a tenant is vacating.

I would advise though you save the threats on not paying rent for a last step when it is something like heat or plumbing.

Tenants often don't agree with security deposit deductions, but if you have good evidence (i.e. before and after photos) of the damage I wouldn't worry too much about their threat to take you to small claims. 

If they exist, I'd like to incorporate strategies that insulate my assets against the potential threat of economic collapse, although I realize losses are inevitable.Short term I'd like to flip my first house.

They perceive a threat  to quality of life, house values, and increased crime and devaluing a quality area.  

You could create a base concept and build on and change things from there with each approach to lenders since each lender is different from the other in what they value in a loan/deal.Don't just look at the lenders as lenders, you should look at them as your partners and threat them fairly.

Unicorns exist in folklore Dion, they aren't hard to find in the cyber world!