I have a few irons in the fire and have no problem humbly sharing for your vast body of knowledge, thanks...

There are banks who will do them, but you'd really want to get comfortable with their release clause policy in the event you want to sell a property and need it to be released from the collateral pool.There are lenders like B2R and First Key who specialize in blanket loans, but their rates aren't the best.

Very similarly when you are pitching a new product or service that Amazon should start to anyone on the leadership team you have to write your pitch exactly as it would be a press release.

Sent me letter requesting release of EM.

Yes, it's quite possible to buy, but subject to, not assume.Do the sub-2 like any other equity deal, making certain you have full SSN's for deceased owners on old mortgages and get an authorization to release info signed by the PR.

Also sometimes a contractor will release his lien for less since its better than nothing. 

Payoff demands never specify where the funds were disbursed when the loan was made (a month ago or a decade ago), they just say what it'll take to pay it off and release the lien.Because our hard money / transactional lender just put it in escrow, that will of course be released once the debt has been paid by the end-borrower's lender satisfying the payoff demand. 

You can also verify with their regulating body that they are licensed if you are worried.

Houston Housing Market - April 2016 Tyler Bernhard April 14, 2016https://www.har.com/content/mls/DISCLOSURE: All data was provided by the HAR Press Release for March 2016.The HAR press release has just come out, and given the current economic environment in Houston, it's a very comforting report.

I don't want to go through a private lender.I have also looked into HomeStyle Renovation Loan but it seems like it requires a lot more paperwork just to get approved and release the renovation payments.