We were very new to investing at the time (and still are) so we negotiated the price only negligibly.

Short story is the fire started as a result of her negligence.

We house hacked it and rented out an apt.That taught us how to become good Landlords through experience.From then on, we expanded our Portfolio to 10 buildings, 30 apts, 65 tenants in Brooklyn, NYC with an Asset value of about $20 Million.We could not have built the Portfolio without Partners.In regards to Liability, since you are House Hacking, research Home Insurance that includes Landlord Liability in addition to the normal insurance.As long as you get the appropriate Insurance, you'll be fine.I would advise you take your first House Hack to learn how to become a good Landlord, don't be negligent so you can avoid being sued (or at least minimize the chance of being sued), learn tenant screening REALLY, REALLY well (this is where beginners tend to fail and put in a terrible tenant), establish a separate Bank Account solely for the rental and build it up as a business.If you find yourself still motivated by next year, buy a 2nd one but this time, you will be much more experienced and knowledgeable.

If they burnt down a duplex because of bad electric with 2 families living in it and someone got seriously hurt, who's responsible for that negligence when you dont have general liability insurance and aren't even supposed to be doing it by law?? 

If you are are negligent or doing something shady a judge can (and probably will) pierce the veil of your LLCs and go after your personal assets.

We should have just paid the negligibly higher price to have true custom cabinets.

If the tenant's negligence is allowing them in, the tenant is responsible.

In my case I paid for both instances since it's not really their fault for negligence.

Appreciation is probable, but cash flow is negligible.

Tenants who are in jail have trouble paying rent.In your case, I would write up a lease violation for negligence.