Based on your statements you believe that even the poorest in our society should shoulder the same percentage share of this cost as millionaires.

But, having said that, Indianapolis stands out head and shoulders.  

Perhaps not in this case but many other PO people that call you can be talked down with empathy for their situation and an explanation that you are offering a service that can truly take that weight off their shoulders. 

The further you get away from the norm, the higher the risk becomes of losses.The road to RE has wide shoulders, starting out driving on the shoulder just puts you closer to the ditch and there are some big drop offs along the way!

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "People pay it".  

What we eventually realized is that too many people give in to the devil on their shoulder when there are tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars at stake.

However, is there some clever strategy here that would let me ride on the shoulders of you giants at least saddled with confidence and higher probability of negotiating success?

In fact, you would have an advantage because you wouldn't have that weight on your shoulders and your investment decisions would be made in a situation where you weren't financially stressed.Having too much credit card debt is like driving a car with the parking brake on.

I will likely be using an FHA loan to start out so I would prefer multi family so I don't have to shoulder the mortgage for a year.  

After browsing through a couple of things, I'd check out your local REIA to actually get in front of some people and rub shoulders if you don't have some personal connections already.