You might want to look around for a more competent party to do business with and perhaps go speak to a real estate lawyer to help you get the paperwork you need and rely less on the loan originator doing a good and proper job.

My deals all have positive cash flow, have appreciated and have great opportunities for forced appreciation.It seems like we have a vast wealth here on the site of success stories, lessons learned from the small stumbling blocks, tools we've picked up along the way and other important life lessons.

@Bradley BissettI think one lesson here is to rethink the whole "debt-free" thing.

And I just gave myself a lesson on mentioning someone in a post lol @Michael Biggs

One house is not enough to learn all of the lessons, by a long shot, but it will be a huge eye opener into the process.HMLs can be a great way to leverage your capital, but they also offer a bit of risk management.

I refused to pay, so they cut me off from the program.In my eye freedom mentor program is a brunch of scam artists focusing on rip-off people.My lesson learned: There are no ways around or magic formula.

Again a lot of lessons in this business.

Lessons learned for next time. 

But the most valuable lessons are going to be the ones learned actually doing the activity, particularly the lessons learned by mistakes.The only way to never make a mistake is to never try at all.  

Lesson learned...Check your load...and ...No one will do a job like you will...or sub it out and be done with it (but be prepared to pay the piper)