So, umbrella insurance policy, which I've never needed (knock on wood).I'm no expert, but I have also heard and read about putting property into a trust in such a way as to protect your identity as the owner; you can't sue who you can't find ... this is intriguing to me if anybody knows more about how to pull this off.

You can still maintain an open feel, while also not doing something that would be too non-standard for a typical single family home (again, unless that's what you're going for).For reference, we did a house many years ago with an almost identical kitchen/lower-level floor-plan, and this is how the standard wood railing looked:

Wow, just thought too, if he's dealing fraudulently then he might get mail fraud added to his list!

Now I notice that other identical houses are being sold for $100k more than what I bought my house for.

For example, if you see a property that rents for $50 more per month than an identical property, except one has a garage and one does not, you can extrapolate that a garage is 'worth' $50.

If you turn around and rented the new house and stayed in the current house, then it would be mortgage fraud.

@Justin FernandezHere is one definition of "joint venture": "a commercial enterprise undertaken jointly by two or more parties that otherwise retain their distinct identities"For the sake of simplicity and what is most likely in our kind of real estate, let's agree for our discussion that we're talking only about 2 distinct parties (as opposed to 3 or more) joining in the JV.

Also, filing homestead on a property you do not actually live in can be considered Fraud if the intent is there and can lead to hefty fines most likely.

These are tricky and heavily scrutinized for fraud/conflict-of-interest.If you intention is to truly occupy the property as your primary residence, and can provide a satisfactory evidence/story to convince the underwriter then most likely you should be OK.

I am a little late to this discussion but one possible counter to the personal guarantee would be to provide a personal guarantee for certain carve-outs such as fraud, negligence, etc.