Brick homes, manicured lawns, mature tree lines streets...I am sure there are lesser areas of the city too but overall I think it is an excellent area to invest.

Mindi Jensen, I am in the Boston, MA and the situation is identical

Since the lien is from 1993 the first thing I would check is to see if the original note has a final maturity date if that date has passed and there have been no extensions or modifications then most likely the note has been paid off.

I am also 37 years old not married and no kids, so I'm mature but not money savvy.

Did you happen to notice if Patrick got responding posts that may have been IDENTICAL to ones you or others received ?

So, you need to think on how you will make payments to the debt guy if he wants them opposed to a deferred interest type of loan with everything due at maturity or final disposition.The next issue you will have, depending on these two investors is, the equity guy now becomes first loss.

Even if your relationship to the family member doesn't make you a disqualified person to their IRA, you may still run into trouble if there is any preferential treatment at all (i.e if they don't structure the loan identically to any other loan they would make, it still could result in a prohibited transaction.)

More like a squeaky voiced, awkward growth spurt sort of investment maturity level.

Also, just doing a search on the words "if you had to invest" you'll find many other threads identical to yours, read those answers. 

The hair is an old picture, I have matured alittle since then!