Seems like you are knocking him down pretty far, beating him up on normal prepaid items, and asking for a hand to do so. 

Especially when meeting contract deadlines, HMLs ask for applications, appraisals, inspections, credit checks, upfront points, prepaid interest, etc. that can cause one to loose a deal.

It is always safest to have an attorney review the forms to make sure they are appropriate for your purposes (this service is inexpensive if you subscribe to a pre paid legal service--I can give you a link to one if you send me a PM and ask for it).

A lot of it is prepaid items like insurance or taxes, so you're not losing that, just pre-paying it.- Tom

Recording fees, title insurance, insurance prepaids, tax prepaids, tax prorations, and the plethora of fees from every government entity with their fingers in the pie still apply.

Yes it can come from the seller if the seller carries a note back, but the seller cant outright contribute proceeds towards your down payment ( closing costs and prepaid costs yes, but not DP).You'd need a lender who understands the lenders guidelines regarding a creation of a 2nd mortgage note carried back by a trust deed in CA.

It's painful and you will feel like an a$$hole, but it will save you a ton of money.I used this strategy a couple months ago and ended up paying a total of $2,200 in closing costs, including $1,500 in pre-paid property tax which I was going to owe anyways.So, yeah...

US Dept. of Justice on Realtor Rebates        https://www.justice.gov/atr/rebates-make-buying-home-less-expensive         https://www.justice.gov/atr/competition-and-real-estate-state-31                                                                  FREC (Florida Real Estate Commission) Rule 61J2-10.028 paragraph (2)The sharing of brokerage compensation by a licensee with a party to the real estate transaction (i.e. the buyer or seller) with full disclosure to all interested parties is not considered a violation.Facts: Seller Concessions to pay for Buyer's closing costs and prepaids are NOT the same as REALTOR REBATE. 

A scam in LA CA area is to squat in a house that is foreclosed on and forge a 5 year lease at a very low price and say it is totally prepaid for those 5 years! 

The property I owe $1800 on is worth approximately $80K, so I have been looking into doing a cash out refi for a cash injection to help with the purchase of more properties, but I feel that the closing costs are excessive.My question is, is there such a thing as too much to pay in closing cost/prepaids for a refi or is it just the cost of doing business?