Of course there are rare circumstances when this may not be the case but assuming you are following all the rules and guidelines to running your LLC properly your personal assets are seperate from the LLC and therefore should not be at risk.Is this not correct?

Try Ralph at Colonial Funding for pricing guidelines on what the market will pay for a loan. ( it may have to be seasoned) Good Luck!

Do they charge exorbitant rents and gamble that it will offset and future losses?

Calculated gamble.

These however may be a huge gamble.

Okay, I'm stating this flippantly, but if my initial assumptions (about why I'd be here in the first place) are valid, maybe this is a reasonable gamble... after all, when I was 22, people *did* trust me with their homes...

Being brand new, it might be better to start out as a loan processor, as from that level you will learn the ropes in collecting the verifications required, checking basic underwriting guidelines, like getting a well agreement if the property has a shared well, and the documents required to have loans approved and closed.

If that's the case, you'd end up with a pretty good Loan-to-Cost ratio of around 80% ($62K/$77K).If you want to use a new appraisal under standard cash out refinance rules, you will HAVE to have less than 4 financed properties currently, and you will have to wait 6 mths, per Fannie Mae guidelines (Freddie Mac is pretty much identical.).

I don't recommend starting off with SLO's anyway till you really know the area and specifics such as lending guidelines etc.

There are local codes here for handrail requirements.I don't know if your buyer's lender is FHA, but reading the FHA guidelines is very informative since other lenders are following their lead.