No. of Recommendations: 4
Sounds like his net worth isn't much better than mine (I have no debt, but I also don't claim to have 9 figures in assets). After all, "net" is assets minus liabilities. If he's mortgaged to the hilt, as you suggest, then even if he liquidated the holdings, he'd have to pay any mortgage holder first.
He might still have a pretty significant net worth and still not be able to get any financing. You typically can't finance 100% of the value of a property. So if you've mortgaged 75% or 80% or whatever of the value of the building, it's hard to get a loan on that last bit of equity. So if he's got a portfolio of assets that's worth <made up number> one billion dollars, then it's likely that at least 10-20% of that is equity net of encumbrances - but which can't be loaned on.
