But obviously, we have spent the better part of 20 years on the buyer's side of the table, so we are looking for some general advice, tips/tricks, or even the pitfalls of setting up a hard money lending arm to augment our current business model. 

This includes you possibly being forced to pay them back for all the rent they had paid.

If you keep forcing yourself to do something that grates on your so much guess what, it's only going to get worse, and it's going to make you a worse person, it will bleed over into other parts of life if it hasn't already. 

I lived in a small town in WA and heard a sad story from the guy who owned the gas station in town - he was required to upgrade the underground tanks and it cost him an arm and a leg. 

We expanded to new markets, bringing on Dan Toback to lead a new division in Florida.At the beginning of 2023, we ended our successful journey in Western New York, replaced it with Florida, and despite the challenging times with record-high interest rates, we were still able to complete 78 deals between our Florida and NH markets. 2024 continues to bring its own challenges, forcing us to grow and improve.

The only thing it provides tenants is a little stability and if they are forced out, most places require the landlord to compensate them. 

It would be a shame if the city were to force me to convert the duplex back into a single family.Would you be willing to connect?

Seller Financing sounds ideal though, I will probably need to read up and look at the contracts so i am armed if i do find a seller.

The rub is there's no way to force the seller to participate so there's a chance you could end up having to file a claim anyway. 

If you really want to force appreciation and have a few flipshappening in the area, you want to add a room and then sale take or take a HELOC out… most importantly keep going !!!