This sounds like a recipe for disaster...and I think I am justified in that assessment since one of the places you have considered investing is with a company that are complete scam artists.All investing is a risk based activity, but people need to learn and understand better risk assessments and mitigation.

The water has been shut off and the immediate flooding mitigated by installing dehumidifiers and fans.

Using that strategy, you can still BRRR houses and mitigate the rising cost of market.

After reading discussion on this I now feel that I may be better off just having good insurance and doing what I can to mitigate any liability risk through good management.  

You must always keep atleast a line of credit open so you can mitigate risk for repairs and hiccups

If you only look at BP from the top level it looks like they encourage you to be overly risky, but the BP forums are filled with people discussing ways to mitigate risk and slower paths to success.

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

The cool thing about Wharton was that the person who built that 1000 homes on a golf course was right in front of you as a guest speaker for that class and listening to how you analyzed and mitigated the risks.

Using options and long term due diligence or reverse exchanges to mitigate the timing issues. 

Like @Russell Brazil said, mitigate the risk of winter vacancy by expecting it to happen and that way if it doesn't you are that much richer and happier.