Quote from @Raymond Whitley: Not sure if Goosehead is in your area, but a broker like someone at this company can really help you in challenge times for insurance like this current market with so many carriers dropping out completely or raising rates on everyone. 

Option 2 with second lender is, get an FHA loan at 3.5% and use the concession to buy discount points and bring a 6.2% interest rate down to a 5.4% permanent buy down, putting me at around $3,450.00 monthly PITI and also adding 8k to the top of the loan for mortgage insurance.

All the hard money lenders I've worked with in the past (and the one I currently work for) deem an appraisal necessary for risk management purposes to insure AIV and ARV estimates are good.Curious how you'd manage risk without one? 

I don't think it should matter if the deal is seller financed, cash, or hard money; the title search and insurance process should be the same.

Are most of you including things like property insurance, etc in your CoC calculations?

They will shop the available options for you and present you the best options while pointing out where the policies differ from each other.

Don't forget to add fringe benefits such as health insurance and also payroll taxes, etc. 

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks for this area dealing with the insanely high property tax and insurance rates?

Cost of living is also lower in Lansing so repair costs are lower.You will want an excellent, locally property manager that handles management and repairs, along with an investor friendly Realtor, CPA, lender, insurance agent, and attorney.To Your Success!

Using escrow company & title insurance will protect you from an unwanted surprise.