I am really more concerned with nutso sellers claiming they were "duped" and hiring an attorney when their DTI takes a hit via a misinformed broker or a conservative lender.

Just wanted to clear that up, there's a lot of confusion out there.That said, I would work on paying down/off the second just so it's not such a big "hit" at one time when sale time comes.As far as going FSBO, it sounds like you've got plenty of time to study up on "how to do it".

Rich,Good post and I think you hit the nail on the head.

Hi John,That is a good question about refinancing and at this time I don't have a solid, clear answer for you, but I will do my best to find out.I DID do a quick google search on refinancing a Condo-Hotel unit, and came up with the following hit from a company in Georgia (Can't post the link due to my newbie status, but I wll quote the info and you can get the site from google search "refinancing condo hotel").******* Begin Quote ********up to 90% LTV and $650K on a Condotel Purchase coupled with COMMONSENSE UNDERWRITING and a FAST CLOSE ... could it be any better?

I will at least have something to have comfort under me as apposed to a hard wood floor (and if you think the couch is a good idea forget it you haven't been with a real woman until you meet one that won't let you sleep on the couch or in the car and tells you to hit the floor....LOL)!

Had someone call me and provided me with this information:5 bed/3batile floorocean viewroughly 3k sq ftThere is a 1st Mortgage of $576k @ 6.5%2nd of $108k @ 9%He also said they are 5 year armOther notes are that he said he put 35k into the property.His motivation for selling: Him and his partner take a hit on the commute to work.

I've been w/ these guys for a couple of months but my confidence w/ rehabs has gone up so much that I put an offer in on the house next to where we're working, which is Arabi btw, which got hit badly, and am gonna try and wholesale it using an option contract.

I have worked on this endlessly but I think I hit a brick wall.

I know Oregon was hit pretty hard but most people worked their way out of it.John Corey

In my opinion, we won't hit bottom until AT LEAST the end of 2008.