(Irregardless of the actual law, it would arguably make total sense if the landlord could keep the deposit until the end of a fixed term lease, as security for the outstanding rent payments that the tenant is obligated to pay; but what makes rationally sense is a whole different topic as laws not always make sense.)

I don’t have experience with bidding on land but I won a house at auction and did a lien search through a title company and it cost me 150$ but it to me it was worth 150$ then to be surprised with an outstanding lien.

@Jim K.That's some interesting stuff but I promise you I'm not a marginal bob and my girlfriend isn't an alpha in the sense that you meant but she damn well isn't a beta either.

If you sold that property, you would lose the HELOC and have to pay back whatever was outstanding. 

Furthermore, as we all know the first few years of mortgage payments are mostly all interest expense and less principal, so my outstanding balance on the debt is remaining roughly the same.

That project has now been completed, and the results are outstanding!

I am not considering selling the place but I bought it 2 years ago and NYC market has been pretty flat ever since.I have an outstanding balance of 460k$ on a mortgage at 4.3%, which is 30 year fixed.

Your tax professional will lament about paying $2000 in taxes one year v $200/yr over 10 years (it's the same damn number), but we're talking about two hundred grand, so this shouldn't be a hard choice. 

They are ambitious, accomplished, and because of it have spent a lot of time locked away in rooms in great schools and office buildings studying and working hard to improve their futures.And I'll be damned if many of these simps don't end up with life partners whose most developed talent in life is spotting a good fresh simp in a bar or on a website, getting their hooks into him, and sucking all the potential, talent, and verve out of him for the next five or six decades.Don't be that guy.

That makes it a lot easier on me.  5% auction fee surcharge.My biggest fear now is outstanding maintenance.