Whether you've lent money for an individual project, or you've invested in some sort of fund / group, I'd like to hear about your experience! 

And your bank is not requiring any sort of paydown of the mortgage for a partial release. 

Again, other might feel differently here.b) Skin in the game: as a conservative investor, I understand that the dirty secret of industries that the waterfall compensation is in the line with me and incentivizes sponsors to take more risk.

Some investors look for cash flow and some look for appreciation and there are investors who need to merge the two in order for the deal to be considered good.I think identifying what sort of investor you are looking to become should be answered first. 

It's not fully closed as in drywall, it's sort of a faux wall on our side, but the tenant could open the door on his side and come through if he wanted.

It seems premature and sort of tacky after hearing your thoughts on it.

Yes, we pay a fee for the coaching, that many of us feel is fully worth the cost, maybe having "skin-in-game" makes us more likely to take action and be excited about the company, but that is for you to decide. 

It's comforting knowing that you have some sort of protection there. 

We thought about doing seller financing for the $172K but it will likely take 10+ years to pay the full amount at any sort of reasonable monthly payment.

The guy in the article was running an exchange, sort of like a bank, and he was also connected to another earlier huge exchange scam.