Honestly might be your best bet to talk to a mortgage broker and see what they can do for u.

I sense that you might be wanting your Contractor to be vested in your enterprise, and you seem to be trying to "hedge your bets" a bit, but, will your Contractor agree to 50/50 in any LOSS too?

It could be physically, financially or emotionally.

If he's agreeable to this, betting he will be, we can refinance his current loan and I will assume half the loan responsibility.

I may add that to my list of things to do. hi jerry,i have bid and purchased a few houses just based on pics , so that's not new to me. but the houses in our area are almost cookie cutter houses and i know how much it would take worst case. i bet your area is a lot different. :)in addition, our houses are in 5 miles radius and i can get to any of them within 20 mins with traffic..you really have to have systems (help) if you are going to take a long vacation. you have to have google voice, an assistant if they have to show the place, a crew/handyman that can access the keys from a lock box and STILL.... it's stressful because it's your property and those people can "flake out" at any point.but you have to train them and you do it by saying "i am going for 3 weeks, you are dealing with everything"... they might surprise you!!

I appreciate the "I BET THIS NEVER HAPPENED TO ANYONE ON HERE" sense of humor - because of course, there are countless threads already on BP asking very much the same question/s*.

LLC is best bet.

Cash for keys seems like your best bet.

No matter how 'hard' it may be to collect a physical check from a tenant, I'll never use one of these online services again for one simple reason ACH transactions are VERY simple for a tenant to have their bank reverse - leaving you holding the bag.

Of course none of this means A will happen as a result of B but if your a betting person, and we are, the odds look good that jr lien position non-performing notes will be in supply.