This is known as piercing the corporate veil and occurs when the investor fails to follow corporate formalities like using separate business bank accounts.A holding company in a state with good asset protection laws and anonymity is an excellent method for keeping your personal name off the public record.

Verbal agreements typically don't hold up in court, so you may need to consult an attorney to formally serve them notice. 

For me, they were never formalized 'mentors' but rather individuals who guided me and taught me the ropes.

If you cannot convince him to surrender the unit, then you will have to formally evict which is costly and timely.

I will observe the dog's behavior when the tenants come for the property tour but need some help in other formalities that I need to make sure w.r.t pets.

Your only benefit in that scenario would be to collect payments, apply them to the loan and service it till paid off or in the event of default, foreclose, judicially or non judicially depending on the state/jurisdiction.Farther along in this post you state the trustee is hoping to sell the "House" at close to market value?

Also, do I have to do a formal walk through in these processes, or is it about getting my unit back from the tenant first and foremost and then having the time to do all the admin stuff (walk thru, inspection to determine deposit return amount, etc.?)

You do not need a formal business plan; no bank will ask for it, nor will they likely use it if you give them one.

Having said that, with the exception of a couple of legal formalities, I'm having difficulties seeing the difference between the two.If you're a buy/hold commercial real estate investor and you acquire your properties via an LLC, is what you're doing that much different from an REIT?

Free and clears are harder to come by everywhere else in the state because you have to wait for yearly judicial sales (In Allegheny county they trickle in every month vs one big annual sale).