The penalties can be hefty, to include:If the misclassification was unintentional, the employer faces at least the following penalties based on the fact that all payments to misclassified independent contractors have been reclassified as wages: $50 for each Form W-2 that the employer failed to file because of classifying workers as an independent contractor.Since the employer failed to withhold income taxes, it faces penalties of 1.5% of the wages, plus 40% of the FICA taxes (social security and Medicare) that were not withheld from the employee and 100% of the matching FICA taxes the employer should have paid.

On the flip side, I don't want to give the impression I'm a hothead who's quick on the trigger and thus scare off contractors who may fear that I'm unreasonable.Frank Romine  this is an approximately 130k rehab.

Of course, that's one in a long list of determining criteria, and like you said, unless the person is working full-time for one employer, it's probably not an issue.

How stable is that economy, if a major employer fell out, what income levels would take the direct hit?

You could always employ a bird dog or tell people on that block that you will pay a finders fee if they find a property coming up for sale that is not on the MLS (yet).  

She likes to say she's "self employed" thats what she calls not having a job....she's one of those people that want everyone to think she's rich but has nothing.. the remodeling of the bathrooms she paid for with money from a car accident, still knowing they will loose the house...Idiot they have no assets for the bank to go after and are about $25k behind on payments....

., a new major employeer coming in, new government policy) that will force appreciation, or something crazy happens like lenders being willing to give everyone and their cat a 100% loan.The math on multis is similar to what I wrote above.

You usually cannot do that if you're still employed with the company with the 401k.Assuming you're not a disqualified party w.r.t. the IRA, by far the easiest way to do this is with a loan.

However, employment is high and the city had negative migration for the past couple of years because of it.

Now if there was a major injury, there's a good chance that a court may throw out the waiver and hold us responsible, even with a waiver signed, which is why I do not want to employ anyone for work requiring ladders, granite fabrication, roof work or other high liability jobs.