The fourth time was finally successful, after having dealt with them for nearly 4 months, all the while our payments were racking up and our financial situation was severely strained.

Always get a W9 from whomever you hire• Make sure you have them sign lien waivers before you give final payment• Check your city's court documents(public info and usually online) to ensure they don't have any judgements against them• Do not pay 50% up front.

If you want to get all of your money out, you need to spend no more than 75% of the final ARV.

You'll have to know what's allowed in your zone and what the restrictions are.You may not be able to put a second dwelling on your lot or the lot may not be conducive to a new structure (e.g. need certain setbacks from the property line).Finally, is it worth it?

We have a draft operating agreement, but need to meet with our attorney to finalize and set up business entity structure. 

One person finally called back today - City Engineer. 

The final one is if the owner moves out of the residence and it is no longer their primary residence.

Typically not your first choice when you start.Residential financing.

(Due to amortization the numbers wouldn't actually be exactly that round) Over time that gap will get ever-bigger and my eventual payoff will get higher and higher too, so if I'm a big dumb bureaucratic institution that doesn't realize real estate is cyclical when making my models and choices, why would I rush to foreclose?

Out of the many different variables that go into that choice one that I keep debating is the following:I hear a lot of people tell me to stay away from Condos because of the unpredictability of HOA fees.