It's hard sometime for me to decide whether to use cash flow to pay down debt or continue to do deals.

Getting money is another story.If you give up trying to collect send a letter to last known address forgiving the debt.Then send a 1099 to the IRS (and debtor) reporting the canceled debt as income.If you don't get paid, at least get satisfaction.

And even more so with the NPN's.. you have debtors and debtors attorney's that will do everything in their power to keep the debtor in the property, and each state has different rules etc etc.

--> Have you ever been on the edge with debt or struggled with it? 

The look back is one year, but if you're within 30 days of filing that's a better position.A letter to reaffirm a debt specifically addressing a particular filing is gold and will be unlikely to be included unless it places other creditors at a disadvantage or appears to have some odor to it.I was a Creditor's Representative here in BK court (appointed by the court) and I've used the reaffirmation route through the debtor's attorney. :)

If and when a short is completed it will serve to avoid the worst possible scenario: a sheriff's sale, trustee sale or other forced foreclosure sale.Once the short sale is complete, the lender will either forgive the debt, or seek repayment outside the scope of the mortgage loan.

After purchasing accounts receivable, generally at a discount over the face value of the debts, the original company's debtors will make their payments directly to your company.Since 2015 there has been $28 billion of loans sold (real estate only). 

Debtor must clearly phrase their request to obtain: the source of a debt and the amount a bad debt buyer paid for plaintiff’s debt; how amount sought was calculated; where in issue a list of reports to credit bureaus; and documents conferring authority on third party to collect debt.Documentation of the creation of the debt with your collection agency.Under FDCPA Section 809 (b), you are not allowed to pursue collection activity until the debt is validated.

Unless you're well-versed in the law governing correspondence between debtor and creditor, I strongly advise against initiating communication yourself.As an example, if you send an email that lacks a disclaimer or in any manner violates, or might violate the law, you will be liable for that correspondence.

It is entirely possible that this mortgage holder could still sue the borrower personally on the debt, or sell the right to do so to a debt buyer, who will sue them.