Just a few comments, not an essay, LOLRestraining a property owner from obtaining equity, such as doing a first and not allowing a second behind them can be illegal, (State laws vary) and is predatory, even in commercial.

I'm not going to type an essay but I joined the site hoping to gain wisdom and guidance from others.

It’s not admissible under FNMA conforming guidelines.

Or if you had insurance but no LLC then the plaintiff could seize all your assets that were unprotected.The long and short of my essay is that you have to evaluate the level of risk you want to assume on your own and how much you want to offload to insurance.

By your own admission, this property isn't "that" distressed... which means it "is" distressed.  

Hey Matt, I view credit scores like SAT scores as they relate to the college admission process.

A really good compilation of Buffett's letters was organized by Lawrence Cunningham and is called "The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lesson for Corporate America".

I see it as a lower cost of admission to the School of Hard Knocks.

At a minimum, for the next one, I think I will plan to meet with the real estate attorney in-person in his/her office instead of relying on email communications so I can get more detailed advice/dialogue, and it also sounds like we may need to find a new title company since the one we used was (at their admission) not experienced with private money lending details.

You can start getting familiar with the college now, check the admission rates, student size, what students are renting etc..