also curious if its best practices when assuming a loan to forgo the escrow and just pay the taxes and ins out of pocket when needed....but perhaps that triggers something else? 

Don't start throwing ideas at them like seller financing or numbers etc until you have an idea of if they actually intend to sell and what their needs are around the sale.This is very practical advice and I agree with the sentiment about not going into a conversation presuming anything about where their headspace is at.

And all of this happens during the contract period reducing purchasing risk.Great strategy especially when practiced just on the outskirts of a major metro area in a country setting(a weekend getaway property that can be marketed to city folk).  

When I used to have RE Broker in my title ( I still have the license just dont practice) I would get folks pinging me about Vegas about once a quarter or so and I would hand those leads to my Daughter  she made some pretty awesome connections from a few of those folks that bought multi million dollar homes..

Issue is, in these "bad" deals the government comes after the lease option seller for predatory lending practices and the eviction / foreclosure process is a nightmare.

If so, can anyone recommend any best practices?

They also have a pay-as-you-go setup, so you’re not stuck in a subscription—just a simple, practical option for better skip tracing.If you haven't already I would consider giving Prime Tracers a shot.

They might be fine managing new construction, but I have seem MANY investors almost tank from their fee schedule on managing older homes...i would compare it to almost predatory practice.

Starting with single-family homes and growing a portfolio one step at a time seems like a practical approach.

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.