Ned's point was that the SAME building that the market would value at $1.2M, would end up being a SAFER (and higher Cap Rate RETURN to boot) investment at $800k than if you paid the normal market value for it ($1.2M).

You are biting off more than you can chew...normally, that leads to choking.  

To limit the cost of this you can raise your rate to absorb this 2.15 - 3.30% upfront fee that is normally financed into your loan but it will take significant rate increase to absorb this chunk.

In my first locale I've got a handyman (will find another 1 or 2, just in case), a PM who can run errands for me on a per-visit basis (I am not paying a PM in the normal sense though), a cleaning company and few other things.

Because they are having problems selling to "normal buyers" I would say you might be able to work something out beneficial to both parties if you wanted to get creative.  

Keep in mind that should you operate it on your own, it will be more work than a normal, straight rental (HomeAway estimate 8.4 hours/week). 

Is that a normal thing to do or will I seem to be out of the norm for these guys?

Normally these wholesale deals are done personally seller to buyer without agents involved.This would be a bird dog finders fee situation if you can pull it off.You are not gonna get a full 3% or more commission from a wholesaler.Have you alerted your investor to the property and gone to see it yet?

I'm not normally this dry and robotic, I can assure you :P  I look forward to hearing from everyone soon!

I presume that you have a signed lease with defined ending dates, so it seems that you could indeed hold onto the security deposit past the normal 21 days as the lease still has several months to go.