The title company or closing attorney gets those and then pays them out, if necessary, to various agencies to record all the paperwork with the county.  

Essentially, you can live in it rent free as long as you are willing to live in one side.

The issue I see is that you are essentially paying retail for the lot and not leaving yourself with a margin of safety.  

If we complete a Lease Option deal, does seller still pay their original mortgage, while I'm essentially paying that off with my rental income?

If we rent it first, and then start an LLC, does that mean we have to redo the paperwork with the renter later?

@David RutledgeDavid Its up to the lending institution but they may also require  cash reserves, more paper work, longer loan closings etc. 

It's essentially an un-recorded land contract.  

Since you're leveraging the 401k funds before retirement, I would think there are significant tax penalties.I'm curious to hear about how you repaid your 401k and how much you were taxed on the loan.Regards,Steve Essentially, you borrow the money through your company's plan's administrator from your 401(k).  

I'm new to real estate, the mountain of information, paperwork, legal this, illegal that, and just plain uncertainty is overwhelming.

If anything, our industry has too many "managers/landlords" quick to dismiss and throw people in the shuffle.If it's called the wrong motivation, than fine...at least there's COMMON courtesy -to understand someone, rather than cost another WILLING cooperative person THOUSANDS and change his living plans because of your job's fussy paperwork ??