But person who is taking loan must have some other "insurance instrument".

To make the situation even better, my attorney recommended including self-serving language in the security instrument to the effect of, "This loan is made without the expectation of any return to the lender other than what is laid out specifically in this instrument," or something like that.

That will let you talk about what is important to each of you, get it in black and white and then it can be sent to an attorney to draft the note and security instrument or note as described.Forwarding a random note that may or may not be used to me seems a bit like wasting time.

And the amount could be anywhere from just a token ($50-100) or something substantial ($500+), depending on how instrumental they were in the project succeeding or how much they have helped me in the past on prices when I needed help.I also go out of my way to get my contractors more business -- I'm pretty sure they appreciate this more than the cash.

We've got a very modern infrastructure, a full instrumented app (meaning that it self reports problems) and a large team of engineers that tackle issues as they come up.

He bought a debt instrument at a discount to the principal balance owed on the note.

It's the second biggest city in MA and has multiple schools, colleges, hospitals, etc.The meet up Andrew mentioned above has been really instrumental in my search and helped me building connections.

This is very subjective preferences and there's no wrong answer here.What I do not like about paying off cash property is that there's no better treatment for tax purpose.Also if I'm still on my early productive age, I would rather have 3 rentals with each 75% LTV, rather than having 1 paid-off primary.The reason is, in 10 years time I would make more money if I invested to several highly-appreciaed house, rather than only one.I am also one who see mortgage is not a debt instrument, but capital asset for less-risk higher appreciated investment 

They can access better financing generally especailly financial instruments, have the scale, and its pretty much completely passive to you.Its certainly much easier to invest via a REIT into various commercial spaces, especially also when the investment isnt' near you. 

I view a HELOC as a great short term debt instrument to get you into deals - like a flip, BRRRR, or a deal that you can't pass up while waiting to sell another property.