I'm not sure if they can realistically pass that liability off to you simply by stating it in their contract.

I like that your goals are realistic and not insane like some new investors.

That said, realistically, I don't think you can go below the 6% - 6.5% range.One question I would ask is if that 3% can be better spent somewhere else to de-risk your deal.

Let’s say your on-going cash flow with realistic expense allocation is $1.5k/month

That is just not realistic in this current market.So in my opinion it's important to expose yourself to a large number of deals, so you can develop an intuitive sense of what's reasonable and what's not (and quickly discard the ones that aren't).And it's true that there is no way to 100% protect from fraud (and not just in passive real estate investments but even in public stocks etc.).

So I would caution everyone to make sure the replacement cost for your improvements will realistically cover your actual replacement cost in the event of a total loss.

Let's break down a realistic timeline for building your REI business without burning out or risking your day job.  

Continually communicate clearly with all parties involved to make sure that expectations are as close to realistic timelines as possible.

No, I dont know of any lender realistically going over 80% LTV on investment properties.

But if gonna try the good ole slander-marketing route, I just ask you try to keep it remotely realistic and not wildly off base.