It is now 6 years of non-payment and the one lender who is willing to finance our first property is requiring that I first catch-up the maintenance fees from the past 6 years. 

In Texas, NON-Realtors like myself, CAN use the contracts that Realtors use, and I usually do.Once you start doing a bunch of direct marketing and driving for $$ you will have to get familiar with contracts and the whole closing process.

I know this is just a public forum and I won't take any opinions as ADVICE.Mostly I'm just venting as I can't understand how a Seller's Attorney cannot just return the deposit based on the fact that the Seller does not have Marketable Title more than 8 months into Contract AND that the Mortgage Contingency expired.Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I have a degree in Supply Chain Management and do some logistics work for a non-profit in my area when I'm not working in real estate.

Otherwise, you can get 4-6% yield on public REITs. 

I am no longer in public ed.

I have come across a commercial real estate company that publishes their research for the general public.

It would normally have the higher interest rate.Here is some general information...www.ccsb.com/Publications/Texas_Property_Liens.pdf

That’s a bad day for any publicly-traded company.Another challenge they face already is self-cannibalization.

Because of that they will not see this.If you do not get any response from your NJ counterparts, I suggest posting in the public forum.