But, if you are in some sort of discussion with your potential JV partner, why not just ask him/her to explain it to you?

Select a company with good reputation for accurate results.

Then I called my agent and explained that I had never given permission to sign over her quote to anyone else and that I could send her anything in writing and would prefer to go with her quote.Escrow happened to be delayed for other reasons, so I have some wiggle room in trying to sort this out.

Hi Everyone, 
I have been following BP for a few years now. I've read several books, listened to hundreds of podcast's and watched dozens of webinar and BP YouTube videos in preparation for my first investment. With ...

I have to give a big thank you to @Gerry Cohen for sort of being the first to stand up and say no, I'm not going to be quiet even if it costs me. 

Is there some sort of solution where I can keep the old railing in place and make it safer without breaking the bank?

They are great projects but they do come with all sorts of strings attached.

@Jeremy Staggers Houston has plenty :) American Title Company of Houston/Patriot Title/Capital Title ... all of them have 10+ branches  and they do all sorts of things for investors (e.g. expedite title search, loan doc prep, double close, blind HUD etc) ..PM me if when you have a contract and would be more then happy to introduce you to one of them.

Renting short term or long term will have some bearing on it but this isn't too far fetched to find a lender for this sort of thing.A small, local lender will be your HIGHEST probability of success when trying to find investor friendly lenders on investment properties.

Would you be willing to purchase a property with this sort of information?