They do in house evaluation for the ARV and no formal appraisal.

If you create a separate entity like an LLC set up a separate bank account(s) for the business - and look up "LLC entity formalities" while you're at it.I will say (with the voice of some experience) don't bother analyzing things to the Nth degree to determine an ultimate "exit strategy for the LLC".

As for malls and shopping centers, yeah, retail is hurting, virtual working is booming and with that brick & mortar work space better re-think and reinvent itself, quick.

They may ask you to submit a formal request in writing in which case you can either fax or email the request in by referencing the loan number and asking the bank to kindly initiate a recast on your mortgage. 

I know equity stripping techniques have already been discussed in a much more formal context. 

If the lender's specific desktop appraisal comes in low you can usually then pay for a formal appraisal if needed.

If your step mom is already helping out, then maybe just formalize that in a lease? 

I didn't have any formal lease agreement which probably wasn't a great idea. 

Hypothetically, if I did not pay a month mortgage, the third party would have immediately notified the seller, initiated foreclosure, and sent formal demand for payment causing the entire balance to balloon immediately.

The people I have met that are super pumped up about it are people that watched one too many boiler room or wolf of Wall Street type movies and took the wrong message from it. if you need a place to hang your license and don’t want to be bothered with office formality it works but make sure you sell over $3,250,000 a year with a minimum of 3% commission or you are leaving money on the table if not losing money.