Unfortunately my prior partner retired so the flip is with my former handyman who has opened his own business.

Or should I not make a loan without those terms included anyways, no matter what the LTV % is.You will always be on a recourse basis with two exceptions, when it is not allowed by law (as with retirement funds) or when you can show you don't need the money at all. :)

Never stop saving for your retirement - believe me, the days/years pile up and you're there before you know it... you win if you have resources to live generously when you are no longer working at a job. 

My neighbor told me once that he was moving in less than a year to his retirement dream home in Canadian lakes, MI.

Should be plenty of homes and owners/just past retirement age that will be turning in the next 10 years. 

I fortunately have not been sued but I would get a $1M umbrella policy and, if your net worth excluding primary residence and retirement accounts is greater than that, ratchet the coverage up accordingly.

The properties title is not insurable to the owner taking the property subject to because it violates the existing mortgage, but once that mortgage is retired then there is no cloud on the title.

Good on you Steve.... the refi to you die mantra has gotten many folks in trouble.. there is absolutely nothing wrong with free and clear assets.. sleep well live well..... its one way to really scale up when that big deal comes in. .your balance sheet looks super strong.. your banker see's you have a combination of TRUE equity and your not leveraged to the hilt.Its the same concept of paying off 15 to 20% credit cards.. for me perosnally with auto loans at 2% no need to pay cash for those like I always did the last 30 years... and for personal resi with 3% money no need to pay that off although my LTV s are all under 50% and I always have that 500k of tax free I can tap if I want to decamp to retirement land..

I understand this is not sustainable with the mortgage so we are going to pay $50k on the principal to make it self-sustainable.We should be able to save approximately $50k/yr combined for the next 5 years safely.Should we pay 40k/yr additionally on the home principal to get it paid off in under 10 years to earn fixed income and sell when we want to retire/start a business?

But the first $24,000 ($48k, married filing jointly) on any retirement income like social security, IRA, 401k, pension etc.The best part is that we actually get something for our tax dollars.