When you analyze a deal as an LTR so you can pivot if necessary, you are in a much stronger position.

And your point about a lingering HM loan makes sense.

You do run a "risk" of being outbid at REO sale and "losing" the property, but given that may happen, the "total debt" is your security as you may bid up to that amount where it makes sense, but you may also be able to cash out for a healthy profit at sale if you so choose.

I am the kind of person who likes to understand everything and be able to do it from scratch if that makes sense.

Does it make more sense to buy commercial lot instead?

But again, your profit after selling costs (and any capex improvements) would have to be in excess of $60ok to really make sense.

Several factors indicate the company is not that concerned about efficiency or ease of customer process: the website, a process that seemed to focus on one issue at a time instead of all issues at once, and consistently poor communications and lack of common sense from the loan analyst we were assigned.It started off very well with the initial point of contact, Austin Lornson, who did a fine job of explaining the general refinancing process, responding quickly and thoroughly to our questions.

Not every pause is a bad thing as sometimes the GP if experienced can work it out and the reason they are doing it makes sense. 

Biggest struggle is finding deals that make sense where the numbers work and in locations that would work for STR.

This is not “student housing” in the traditional sense - even the vacancy risk doesn’t exist as it’s a 12 month lease / they work over the summer there, etc.