With consideration to licensing laws (and the gray area involved), I have a few ideas.

Does it make a difference if the property was bought 20-30 years ago.My portfolio has been purchased over a considerable amount of time and I suspect others run into this as well.

Jack -All these things can play into your decision, but it's up to YOU to determine how much each plays into what you decided to do.For example, the consideration of future appreciation: While you can certainly consider that the property used to be worth a lot more, that doesn't mean it will ever be worth that amount -- or anywhere close -- again.

Having good credit, reserves, and experience, are the foundation a full-recourse loan.Since these are small balance commercial loans, the borrower's credit score is also a consideration.

It has considerable back taxes due of around $40,000.

Agree with Bryan...You did everything you could to be considerate and respectful, and if the tenant isn't willing to cooperate, you need to exert your rights and just let yourself in (with proper notice, of course).If the tenant doesn't want you in there that badly, you have to wonder why, and if I were you, I'd want to find out sooner rather than later...

You can also use a title company to assemble one and save yourself quite a bit in legal costs by avoiding an attorney.In my opinion, lease options are viable, but they are certainly problematic and you should not proceed without careful consideration and legal advice.

If its about to expire then the agent "should" want to work with you.You could offer half of their commission up front, 1.5% (from your side of the option) and then a create a note for the remainder of the commision after you close with your tenant buyer.Or, if your spreads are good, and you are getting more than 3% option consideration, give the agent all their commision up front, and then proceed as usual.

If the repairs are something the buyer will do during a typical walk-through, you're going to limit your buyer pool considerably, as most buyer who don't have construction experience will likely be scared off.But, if the repairs will be hidden, and will only be seen by the inspector, that's not nearly as bad (though you still need to disclose to the buyer, they won't have to stare at it).I remember the one house where I did a foundation repair that was very obvious (see pics here: http://www.123flip.com/house-4-rehab-offer)...we got lucky and resold it in a week or two, but the buyer happened to be a GC who recognized that the fix was actually a good thing.

I'm definitely not an expert in this area...in fact, I only know what I've discussed with my CPA (and I could be misremembering)...But, in general, unless your company car is to be *solely* used in a business capacity, it's probably more tax effective to just own the car in your personal name and take a deduction based on the number of miles used for business use (I think it's somewhere around $.55 per mile, these days).If the the car is owned by the business, you can a relatively small depreciation benefit and you get to write off actual expenses related to owning the car, *BUT* whenever you use it for personal use, you would be supposed to consider that as taxable compensation on your personal W2.In other words, if the business owns the car, you're going to get taxed for using it for personal use.I'm sure there are other considerations, but again, I'm not an expert...