I'm completely guessing, but I think with all those costs, I can still come out with about $50,000 in my pocket (and a few more grey hairs more than likely).

I have been disappointed in several agents and their ability to do comps.

If someone is a member of a protected class and you don't like their tattoos, or hair, or behavior then you can still reject them on the basis of the factor you don't like.

The agent you work with should have an understanding of who to talk to and should have an ability and desire to make contact with parties he/she may not know in order to get the package exposed to qualified, competent and capable counter-parties.

There products and ability to work with someone like me was a big reason I went with them.

Having your mortgage paid by someone else will give you freedom and the ability to save much more than most people ever could.

You have the ability to partner for sure with an investor.I have done this myself & it can work when structured correctly.

You're slowly selling the house rather than building up an asset.If you use your ability to shelter gains, and do "low speed fix and flips" where you buy a junker, live in it and fix it up over the course of two years, and then sell it at a tax-free profit, then it really can be an investment.And, if, as David Niles says, you pay it off and leave it to the kids, then they have not only a nice asset, but also get it with a stepped up basis, avoiding taxes.

Along with that could come the ability to get the loan and raise the money for the down and closing.There are other ways to skin the cat.

The agencies have no way of knowing what you owe your family members.Your ability to get a future loan has no bearing on who holds the existing mortgage, other than showing it having been done at arm's length, as I outlined above