Not only did it cause mold, it very well could have caused a fire, and safety hazard.You mentioned that the parents are cosigners. 

Even though someone could theoretically purchase a note for $30K and just let whatever happens happen as they work it out, there's an inherent safety in spending the same $30K to just purchase education to help navigate those waters.

Her insurance company picked up the tab for a safety check on the oven.

Is this at all common in single family investing outside the turnkey business model? Is

I personally don't like a bridge loans because of the rates/fees, but I get that. 3 years with a 3 year pre pay works right for me with my business model. I

I can't stress this enough @Amanda B. you sound like a nice person but you're still not in Captain mode. 

I did leave my W2 job to pursue real estate full-time; however, I transitioned to being a 1099 contractor and pursuing ventures that I truly enjoy doing, so maybe a hybrid model? I

REIT's and institutional investors will happily take very low cap rates for safety of protecting their capital and ease of management. 

As far as the Umbrella policy goes you should look at an Umbrella Policy as "excess liability" or "secondary coverage" meaning the underlying policy (home or auto) pays first in a claim situation and if the claim exceeds the limits of the underlying policy THEN the Umbrella kicks in.There are companies that will sell you an Umbrella policy without requiring you to buy another policy from them ...but...they still want to verify your underlying coverage on the home and autos.Geico is an Auto insurance company first - they broker out the homeowners policy to other companies which is why you may not be getting good advice from them...plus it's an 800# and the kid you are talking to may not have any real world experience in what you are trying to do so can't think of any solutions.Try reaching out to a local independent agent or a Farmers agent - Farmers has options to put all but one of your autos in "storage mode", and should be able to combo that with your home as a landlord policy thru Foremost then set up an Umbrella policy for you on the entire package.

@Rodney SumsI am always in a buy mode when the right deal is available.  3 years ago, I could only find 3 deals, 2 years ago I found 3 deals in April and none for the rest of the year, last year I bought 7 properties.