There was quite a bit of unused land and the zoning gave me some flexibility if I wanted to expand various aspects of the property.Also the self storage units were all below market rent and the seller was willing to finance at a decent rate with a 5 year balloon.

Your personal loan has a 5 year balloon period.  

I got a letter and it just didn't seem professional in that there were grammar errors, etc. so it made me leery. 

We repeatedly explained that it’s not done that way in New York State: here, you send in your articles of organization to a state office and they send back a letter with a state seal acknowledging they received the documents.

Plus I dont think any contract would hold up if a seller wanted out.this goes for unsolicited  yellow letters/ robo calls / robo text style of marketing. 

Is it normal to pay anything upfront besides a down payment on Private Money Lender financing deal
Does this look legitimate to you guys https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WXAqllCuZVMjkv6HjqLmv-gw3bmwPqr2/view?usp=driv...

In other words, not resold to the government so the bank had more flexibility on the condition.I look at the original commitment letter and it states "xxx amount will be advanced at closing for the purchase of an investment property, and the remaining balance of the loan to be placed into an escrow account to be disbursed as improvements are made".No points, and only one closing, so I don't have to deal with a short term HML that I have to refinance in under a year.Hope that helps!

Instead, he wrote a threatening letter (first contact since closing) and demanded thousands of dollars. 

I see it promoted by gurus that they'll pay 110%+ of FMV if they get the financing in place and no balloon.

A Real Estate agent made an offer for his client and BlueGate was who wrote the approval letter for the Buyer.