The delays you mention seem excessive, that said, if the delays are due to the local utility company (some are common but not that long) then you don’t have a lot of options but I am feeling like the contractor here has caused at least some of the delays.

It's possible that your agent wasn't aware of some of the charges that would be in the closing costs like the upfront mortgage insurance premium.There might be some excess things in the estimate.

If the regular market will not cover it, have your agent check in the Excess/Surplus lines. 

My insurance was way excess of what the house was worth.

So far, I have not had any problems with excessive water use.  

If the loss is in excess of your income - you may be eligible to carry the loss forward.

Realizing this RE will have huge negative cash flow, how confident are you of market appreciation (property and rent) in excess of the negative cash flow as no one invests with a plan that shows them losing money on the investment.Final thing to consider is your likelihood of coming back to San Diego and how nice a home is it for you and your family. 

If the house does sell for more than the lender's opening bid then any excess goes to the former owner, after all fees.  

As far as the Umbrella policy goes you should look at an Umbrella Policy as "excess liability" or "secondary coverage" meaning the underlying policy (home or auto) pays first in a claim situation and if the claim exceeds the limits of the underlying policy THEN the Umbrella kicks in.There are companies that will sell you an Umbrella policy without requiring you to buy another policy from them ...but...they still want to verify your underlying coverage on the home and autos.Geico is an Auto insurance company first - they broker out the homeowners policy to other companies which is why you may not be getting good advice from them...plus it's an 800# and the kid you are talking to may not have any real world experience in what you are trying to do so can't think of any solutions.Try reaching out to a local independent agent or a Farmers agent - Farmers has options to put all but one of your autos in "storage mode", and should be able to combo that with your home as a landlord policy thru Foremost then set up an Umbrella policy for you on the entire package.

My tenant caused damage by leaving carpets with excessive cat urine and vomit all over, burnt holes in it with hot coals in a plastic bucket and pretty much never vacuumed stairs, cleaned shower etc etc.She wanted some TV wires back that she left so she was organizing a painter to come and fill the holes and repaint them.