Having said that, I'm do realize there can be some good small deals, but the risk, I believe can be quite high due to unfavorable insurance and financing options and the cost of syndication, IF you're doing a syndication deal. 

And you can make that sound as favorable as unfavorable as you want. 

That is, unless you pay a huge deposit upfront, something you wisely say you don't want to do.As for your question about how a financial contingency in the Contract would look like, similar to the wording that you already put in the Contract (but which only allows for a maximum deduction of $10k because of unfavorable appraisal), it would say something like: "This Offer is subject to Lender approval; otherwise, the Contract can be cancelled by the Buyer with no penalty, full deposit refunded".If you haven't heard of such financial contingency wording, I suggest you add it to your arsenal. 

If I find something unfavorable to the seller how do I get out of the contract and negotiate a better price?

Unfortunately, there are many uneducated loan officers that don't understand VA lending, or may have overlays or unfavorable guidelines, and may direct you into another product in their best interests, and not yours.

Living in TX, with high property tax, the new tax law maxing out the state and local tax deductions (in this case property tax) @ $10k will impact me (unfavorably)..so home ownership loses some of its long standing tax perks.  

In real estate, every aspect of any niches are risking to the lenders or the banks who are providing sourcing and may be difficult to get lending or get unfavorable interest rates.

Yes, the layout is unfavorable, but we are not planning to tear out any walls at this point.

If you are asked for a reference and you provide anything that can be construed as unfavorable and it is perceived that they were unable to rent because of that reference, you open yourself up to liability may very well be sued!

Your experience with them may change materially through no fault of your own and then people will look unfavorably at your advice in the future.