Right now I am dealing with a DSCR lender that switched my client's product to a Bridge loan and gave him a very hard time when he asked for a copy of the appraisal.

Depending on the lender and the product if it is non-comforming you may not need to wait that time and you may not receive a LE or CD, but still most lenders will have it as a standard practice to be safe.

Chances are they are not coming off the price, because your home inspector didn't agree or like it.That's the standard with production builders. 

I read city code in my spare time and do a ton of product research.

Go to a construction site (production home builders--- Toll Brothers, Orleans, KHov) and find the carpet installer.

Your deed of trust needs to be made by the trustee, or you didn't properly perfect the security interest, I'd bet on any attorney getting that right unless they were really new.Back to the other issue, any lender advertising a loan product and never closes that product can get nailed.

I also when things were hot before interest rate spikes I just followed what Lennar was doing. they had a flat fee of 5k.. which for thier product was basically 1% buyer agent fee.. my product was / is 700k plus so  I was just posting 9750.. flat fee and had no problem with agents bringing in buyers . 

Many lenders avoid these deals due to the low resale potential, but I'm curious if there are any loan products available for this price range, especially in markets like the MidwestAlso, does anyone know if any lenders are bundling multiple low-cost loans to meet minimum loan thresholds?

Could be a good product, could be a bad product.

You think that you hired a specialist and are paying for the corresponding quality, while in reality you might have some under-trained, unmotivated and unsupervised anonymous data entry clerk doing the work, full of costly mistakes and cut corners.Often, low-cost CPAs get overwhelmed with the amount of work they take, resulting in rushed poor quality product and mediocre (or worse) service.