I'm a big fan of value-add opportunities, whether it's buying something currently undervalued & fixing it up to my standards, or buying something that has additional income opportunities that have yet to be incorporated. 

I ended up backing down and just use the standard payment platforms, Venmo, MetaPay, CashApp, and Zelle.

Start with a standard offer, and write a contingency into it for electricity, all the below ground utilities, and then work your way to zoning, permitting etc.

I don't remember the precise words, but essentially he claimed that there was some sort of standard rental agreement applicable to the area and he could not (perhaps in reality would not) add anything to it at all, which struck me as oddly questionable.

Standard stock is fine.

With enough knowledge you can make a educated decision on which approach you take.My experience:I personally don't sign up for any program who take you aside during events and try to sell packages that is just blatant sales strategy.Once you sign up there is every attempt to make you sign for their programs for bookkeeping, registered agent, LLC or corp setup fee which have ridiculous even with platinum membership.Basic standard structure they suggest to take advantage of multiple deductions can be easily achieved by proper education or work with a good firm like https://wcginc.com  who is local to you.A umbrella C-crop to manage all other LLC properties and take advantage of many tax deductions that are not available with a llc, its also used to take losses up to 100K as startup expenses and dissolve the entity after few years.Few LLC entities for investing in Real Estate, etc preferably in Wyoming or Nevada ( you can find many companies online who can do this for $150 compared to anderson $1500-$3000) , they will claim they have a secret Operating agreement which is bogus.They certainly try to take advantage of tax loopholes and claim to be smart people, my view they are just taking advantage of numbers as per their own statements.

Some of your requests may fall outside this manager’s standard practices, and customizing services for each client isn’t practical for most PMs.

if a property I buy and bring up to rent ready standards then starts cash flowing..." - it's not going to. 

And if it's a high amount, would you be better off just using that as a downpayment and get a standard new investment loan?

I am happy with them, I think they bring up value to investors, still I believe many of their deals don't meet my standards ( do your own diligence and run your numbers!).