Your original argument was that such an arrangement was impossible because nobody would lend to a janitor. Anyway, "patsy" doesn't quite describe it because this is the third such arrangement. He hasn't cheated me the first two times. In fact, when he decides to sell and move again, he'll give me part of the profit to the tune of about $20k. Not bad for just writing my name on stuff. Yeah... the real estate business had just barely broke even, but hardly what anybody would call a huge loss. If he does anything like that again, I'll invest, but under a condition that he keeps the company's bank borrowing minimized.