Here's what they know.
Now you know.
I'm Jed. I ain't a lawyer. I just read what they read, and I don't forget it. Courts, contracts, your house: no fancy degree, just knowin'. If ol' Jed can do it, anybody can.
New guide: Take Your Profits, cash from your home with no monthly payment · Watch the episodes
Represent yourself, and do it right.
Court papers come with procedures and dates worth understanding. Jed explains how to find the applicable rules and read what the notice actually says.
“Lawyers bill by the hour. I'll tell you for free.” Jed
Answer a lawsuit
What to file, where, and how many days you have before the clock runs out.
Serve and file
Getting papers to the other side and the court the right way, so nothing gets thrown out.
Read the docket
What every order, notice and hearing date actually means for you.
Served? Find your answer deadline
Served? Your answer deadline
Pick the court on your papers and the day they were handed to you. Jed counts the days the way the rules count them, holidays and all.
Jed has checked the holiday calendar for service dates June 1, 2026 through November 30, 2027.
Look for the line that reads "to appear ... on" or "Set for ... on".
NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Jed is an AI character.
My Case
Your whole case in one place: every filing organized, every deadline tracked, and answers to your questions from your own file. Opening soon.
Never sign blind again.
Leases, loans, phone plans, contractor bids, job offers. Bring Jed the fine print and get it back in plain English. Or answer a few questions and draw up your own.
“They figure folks like us don't read the fine print. I read every word.” Jed
Read it
What you're agreeing to, what it really costs, and the clauses that should stop you cold.
Write it
Leases, bills of sale, IOUs, contractor agreements and demand letters, built from your answers.
Owner financing
The promissory note and deed of trust for selling your own property and carrying the loan.
Free comparison sheets: Rental costs (PDF) · Contractor quotes (PDF). Print one page and compare your offers.
Contracts for members
Opening soon. Get on the list and hear first.
Your house is worth more than you think.
Compare two modeled ways to get cash from your house: an equity investment and a HELOC. Enter your numbers, then check the assumptions below.
“Bank ran the numbers on your house. So did I, on the barn wall.” Jed
Four ways to pull cash, side by side, plus every company that serves your state.
See what your house could pay you →Slide, or type your own number in the box.
How this estimate works
Illustrations, not lender offers. The two options provide different cash amounts after fees. Cost means total modeled repayment minus cash received; it is not an APR or a present-value comparison.
Equity investment: assumed upfront fees of 4.5% plus $3,000. Repayment uses the cash-to-home-value ratio multiplied by 1.65 through five years, or 1.8 afterward, applied to the projected home value. It is capped at the entered cash amount before fees, grown at 18.5% nominal annual interest, compounded monthly. Actual contracts use different terms.
HELOC: assumes the entered rate stays constant and interest is added to the balance monthly. It does not model required monthly payments, further-draw eligibility, credit-line limits or the end of the draw period. No HELOC fees are included. This is not permission to skip payments. How HELOC payments work.
At sale: assumes the existing mortgage balance stays unchanged; sale costs and taxes are excluded. Neither future home growth nor lender eligibility is predicted.
Want every option, side by side? The Take Your Profits guide checks seventy-five companies for you.
See the guide →Sell it and be the bank.
Owner financing means the seller carries the loan. No bank in the middle. The buyer pays the seller every month, with interest, the same way they'd have paid a bank. Folks call it seller financing, or being the bank. Anybody can learn how it works.
“Banks get rich lendin' money on houses. Ain't no law says only banks can do it.” Jed
The note and the deed of trust
The promissory note is the buyer's written promise to pay: how much, what interest, what payment, and when. The deed of trust ties that promise to the house. It gets recorded at the county, and if the payments stop, it's what lets the house be sold to pay off the debt. Some states use a mortgage instead; Tennessee mostly uses a deed of trust.
The balloon
A balloon payment is whatever's left on the loan, due all at once on a set date. The monthly payment can be figured like a 30-year loan, with the rest due in year 5, 7 or 10. Refinancing is one possible way to fund the balance; it is not guaranteed. The federal seller-financer exclusions have different repayment conditions. See the rule and its conditions.
Selling the note
A note may be sold for cash, but its price is not necessarily the balance still owed. Compare the actual offer with the remaining payments and costs. The rate, payment history, collateral and buyer's assessment can affect the offer; no sale price is guaranteed.
Compare two loan terms: monthly payment and total cost →
Be the Bank calculator
Slide, or type your own number in the box.
Assumes on-time payments. Excludes costs, taxes and defaults.
Assumptions and rule references
See the year-by-year schedule
| Year | Paid to you | Interest | Principal | Still owed |
|---|
Be the Bank: owner-finance deal builder
“Here's how the math works. Every check your buyer sends pays your interest first, and the rest whittles down what they owe. Same as a bank, 'cept the bank is you.” Jed
Slide, or type your own number in the box.
The years the payment is figured over.
When whatever's left comes due all at once.
See the year-by-year table
| Year | Paid to you | Interest | Principal | Still owed |
|---|
NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Jed is an AI character. Results are estimates from the numbers you enter.
Watch Jed work.
Short episodes. One rule each. Every rule shown on screen so you can check it yourself.
Jed Reads It
At the kitchen table with the papers they hoped you'd skip.
Barn Wall Math
The numbers the bank ran, chalked out where you can see them.
Courthouse Steps
One rule, one deadline, straight from the steps.
Who you'll meet.
Characters in our videos are AI-generated. The rules they read are real.
Jedediah“I ain't a lawyer. I just read what they read.”Smoky Mountain genius. Reads everything, forgets nothing, and shows you how.
Miss Opal“If I can, you can.”Jed's neighbor. Got served, got mad, and handled it herself.
Mr. Fine Print“It's just standard. Sign right here.”Smooth talker. Counts on you not reading. Loses every time somebody does.Take Your Profits
Forty-seven pages on getting cash from your home without a new monthly payment: every option, what each one really costs, the seventy-five companies we checked, and the questions that make a salesman squirm.
- 47-page PDF guide
- Every cash-out option and its real cost
- 75 companies checked, side by side
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