Has anyone ever done any lending with this private lender. I am about to sign a contract but he wants over 3,000 up front before he gives me the loan. I need advice.

Well, there are times when whole life is the best solution, then we had to have a more in-depth learning experience with me back pedaling.

River rock with some select trees also looks nice, dependent on the property. 

or just put some lipstick on it and rent it..... last time I bought a property i was all goody goody as well as paranoid and got a mold inspection which now has that property on the hazmat list till i shell out some 20k to remediate it (which mostly seems to consist of guys wearing cosmonaut suits, just like in Ebola land, spraying a cleaning solution, and billing $100 an hour each.....- not to say that mold remediation isn't important, but maybe I could have gotten rid of some of it myself before calling in the mold specialists.) 

So our solution is to have him put 100% of the down payment down into the LLC. 50% would be his down payment and 50% would be a loan (no interest) for my down payment.

Its a tree in a forest.  

,Congrats on being persistent and finding a solution!  

This question has got me stumped and I can't find the answer in my textbook...A homeowner preparing his home for sale should do all of the following except:a) fix any broken fences and railingsb) replace worn carpetingc) prune trees and mow lawnsd) repaint interior walls in a bright primary colorMy group thinks it's D, but what do you professionals think? 

Thanks Max - yeah, that's actually what the plumber suggested too, and I might consider that as a short term solution, but to be honest, I wouldn't put up with that as a tenant for very long (snaking a clogged toilet is not a particularly pleasant task), so I do want a more "hands-off" solution in the loner term.

The red tape and hoops that you have to deal with can be a nightmare and cause months of delay before you even touch a tree much less break ground.Also I agree with Devon, some architects do not live in reality (as a building contractor I live with it all to much) so it is important that you have a product to produce that you can not only sell in your market, but you can tweak and add value engineering to as you learn to construct your product, this can be equated to time or material, and is in my opinion the number one reason you would consider recreating a building multiple times and only change the façade.