That approach seems like it would reduce the chance of deals falling through, and I can understand why it would be standard practice.

google All inclusive Deed of Trust state of CA.. that will give you a really good description and if you can find the actual deed of trust to read its a great wrap document .. in practice   you have a current 100K loan at 8%  you sell by owner and take a 125k note at 9%  the 125k wraps the 100k.. you continue to pay on the 100k the while the new owner is paying on the 125k  payment lets say on the 100k are 1k a month the new payment is 1.2k a month you make the 200.00 delta..

I bet that translates into other good practices, like fast response times when people reach out to you.

I'm not saying that the increases have to be as drastic as the example I shared but you should be in the practice of increases to keep up with costs. 

A title or escrow company cannot likely help you since there is no actual transaction happening and we (escrow and title) are only permitted to perform the act of deed prep for transactions, otherwise, it is considered practicing law.Here are a few options to help with the doc prep and recording:https://recordmydocs.com/https://directlegal.com/e-record/http://docstarservices.com/

We have both a realty practice and mortgage practice.

So, keeping an eye on it and addressing minor fixes (like securing loose shingles) can be a practical middle ground.

Those are standard practices.

Non payment evictions are practically non existent.

Also, as I understand it you gutted those houses, putting in practically new everything.