Another interesting perception is that apartment rental prices will drop, because soon many more SFH rentals are going to be on the market, for the same rates that apartments are charging now.

Then you can charge him the full 1600, and you will have a long term tenant :)

That is definitely not my deal.As of now, the Architect will be staying on throughout the project and I will be part of a team in charge of hiring sub-contractors.

Getting investor loans done with conventional lenders is tough and will get tougher.Local indy banks as you say are a great alternative. they are called portfolio lenders and they can help because they do not sell their loans to Freddie and Fannie.These small banks and credit unions don't work with brokers so brokers are not your best bet here.If you go to my blog (in my sig) there's a link there to my Portfolio Loan Blueprint that will help.

I seriously doubt with every bone in my body we need to be stocking up on guns, ammo, food, safes...etc.It's almost laughableI'll bet they thought it was laughable just before every other catastrophe in history.

Costs for an exchange are minimal (my company charges a total of $695, for instance); it's hard to find a RE deal where taxes won't be at least that much.

Your best bet, if you can find a lender, is to do a straightforward refi and pay your friend off as part of that transaction.

I bet that second would take $1500, and the first would take a whole lot less than $700k.

Do not let a title company charge you a couple of hundred $$ for it either I could walk you through it relitivly easily.

Your best bet may be small neighborhood banks.