I don't want to be holding the bag!

You can't foreclose and make both notes whole.... someone is going to be left holding the bag if someone defaults.

Are the businesses in there likely to do well in a recession, or will they likely go out of business, leaving you holding the bag?

We have no debts, no home to sell, a big bag of money and plenty of income.

Remember the less hands that have to dip into your bag the more you will have in your bag.

Someone (probably ex tenant) kicked in 4 of the interior doors, two big holes in the walls, cherry kool aid stains on carpet, dead lawn, cut some wires in the walls, NEVER cleaned the kitchen and looks like used lard to cook everything, the cooktop looks like a couple of "smallish fires" may have happened and the (original, 1979) oven has NEVER BEEN CLEANED, oh and to top it off we have a family of THREE SKUNKS LIVING IN THE CRAWL SPACE.And of course I no longer live 6 miles from this place, I live 950 miles away.I just spent 1 1/2 weeks working on it, about 30 "contractor size" garbage bags, 5 gallons of paint, a million small things that you always run into.Anyway I found a "craigslist" cooktop and wall oven for pretty cheap, my wife helped a lot, even though she hates RE investing and my neighbor has been a godsend because the trash service only picks up the rolling dumpster, NOTHING ELSE, so he has hauled the other stuff to the dumpster at his work.I'm heading back to TX to hit the kitchen, exterior paint, front yard and finish the interior paint (oil base on the trim).

GlenI have a couple of properties in Longview, it can be a mixed bag in terms of neighborhood quality and rental rates, so do your research.

You may be asking to much for the house, the market may have shifted, any number of things could happen that you could be sitting on the house for many months, and the contractor should not be left holding the bag, especially if nothing ends up coming up relating to their work.

So now I have a property in a city that I don't invest in that is located a couple of hours away and I am left holding the bag and I may very likely lose money on this deal.So It may work out well or not depending on the operators/partners and their expectation of the deal.  

Got your bug-out-bag packed?