Lastly, you can use the find a lender tool up top of BiggerPockets to find reputable lenders. 

The consequences are: family member comes along and sues or seller sues and gets the house back in court.

You want an accountant who can help you strategize and who is responsive when you want to know the consequences of the financial decisions you are making throughout the year.Good luck.

His primary mortgage was sold to a private lender in the early 2000s and he claims he had to give an explanation each time as to why he financed with a private lender with such poor reputation every time his credit was pulled.

Figure has a reputation for being a fast HELOC provider.  

Taxes are just one of many things to consider but decisions on real estate should not be solely based on tax consequences.

@Patrick Fricchione, You will not create any tax consequences simply by converting the use of a property. 

“Good” agents are the ones doing 90% of the deals and they’re mostly getting business by their good reputation, so their business will continue to grow and thrive even more now with less competition.

My current primary ( scenario 1) Keep the primary for the life of the loan ( current rate is 4.5 so i dont see my self refinancing anytime soon)current home value 1,150,000Loan amount 935,000appreciation estimate 5% per year after a 28 year hold and the house is paid off I would have a house worth 4,312,000$my current mortgage is 6125$ ( piti) included My second option( scenario 2) Sell the house, walk away with $150 ,000 ish in hand and put that into a low cost index fund Rent a house elsewhere for about 3000$ ish and take the extra 3000$ im saving everymonths from not having to pay my mortgage and puting that money in the index fund as well I ran the numbers on both of these scenarios and doing what I mentioned above would break even at about 28 years meaning my stock account would be worth 4.3 million just like my house would , but the only is that holding a house for 28 year would mean 28 years of property taxes, loan interest ,home insurance and repairs etc whick I calculated to be about 1,200,000$ at minimum which raised my eyebrows to say the least Also i understand that each of these options ( stock market vs real estate ) will have there tax consequences ( long term capital gains) so any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well.  

Contact a reputable RE attorney in the area where the PM is located.