A court may take the equity of the house for a judgement. 

That way I can check the age of the appliance and make the judgement call on whether to repair or replace.  

I put some money on the side to ease her fears and showed her how it can actually help with those other goals.After a while of being successful  with whatever I do she started to trust my judgement. 

Don't have a lot of faith she'll go on to make a good, solid, lucrative investment at this point considering market conditions, the pressure she's under and the fact that her education and judgement so far haven't steered her better.

The first 2 or 3 judgements went against the LL for procedural reasons.  

It's not without risks, but with careful planning and sound judgement, it can offer unique opportunities and flexibility that traditional lending often can't match.I'm interested in your thoughts and experiences with hard money loans.Best,Nathaniel S.

That decision should be based on many factors like; how much do they owe vs how much in legal fees will it cost you to chase them down, even if you get judgement can they even pay, etc. 

I won a judgement against them, they are of course appealing and trying to bully me.  

This would make it a lot harder for someone to seize the house in the LLC if they obtained a judgement and the judgement went over the insurance limits (or insurance denied the claim).This setup sounds pretty solid, but the initial setup cost would be about $2000, and then of course there are the annual fees for the LLCs, and the registered agents, if necessary.

As a general rule, any item that is an improvement to the property (new windows, roof, sidewalk) would be capitalized and items that are more short term in nature would be expensed (plumbing or HVAC repairs, paint, etc).Of course, there are times when plumbing, HVAC or paint might be appropriately capitalized so this is where some judgement must be exercised.