Water starts to get into the gap and from there into the standoff and gets busy working on loosening the bricks.

I think that is the biggest knot i have to loosen because I am using private money for my first few investments, hopefully just the first one so I can enjoy the taste of tax benefits. 

Time may loosen up the purse strings on jumbo refis.  

Tell her to loosen up her purse strings and hire an agent to sell her home.

Ended up going through another local bank for that commercial loan with 80% LTV and 4.5% interest.This was 3-5 years ago when lending was much tighter, so they may have loosened up quite a bit since then.My understanding about Gus is that he owns a lot of property and most of it came through foreclosing on borrowers.  

@Michael Haas It is an interesting point when evaluating deals, perhaps I can loosen my criteria a bit to work within the existing market.

I have a feeling (and some data) that suggests the market is going to loosen up a good bit in the next couple months and banks are going to start releasing a good bit of inventory -- if that influx of properties materializes, I want to be prepared to take advantage of it.

That inventory will loosen up once mortgage rates drop back down. 

When I disclose I am an agent, they tend to loosen up and can be easier to work with.

Mike,Correct me if I'm wrong, but with that plank you have disconnect all the way to the nearest wall, whereas glue down you can just take up the one plank (use heat gun to loosen adhesive) and replace it.