Debt or equity partnership will depend completely on the relationship between you the borrower and the lender, and the level of risk involved with the transaction.Debt partnership --  The lender loans you $120K, for 6 months, secured by the property, you make fixed monthly payments to the lender at 10% interest only, $1,000 per month. 

Also, if you are doing larger deals, you can get pretty good terms with Agency debt or CMBS loans on parks today. 

For example, I think we are late cycle, so I lean toward the safest part of capital stack which is debt (or debt free equity).

The irs might send you a bill, but no one is going to drag you into a debtors hearing and order you to empty your pockets in front of a judge.

Filing a lien, making it a formal transaction also means that the debt or asset will be covered by law in other issues like death, bankruptcy, etc.

Without some major title, debt or repair issues (or a clueless attorney), this offer wouldn't fly.

Lenders chase the debtor.

I did this once and got a lot of the money back the the debtor filed BK and the BK court made me pay to the trustee all the money I received on the judgment.  

They are generally higher interest but some will qualify you based on the property, not on your debt or income.

This is my delima......we are getting a bonus of about 10k and adding to savings to pay off some debt. But, I have been looking at a fixer upper. Which should I do first?