Instead get  a longer listing commitment and then if the seller wants expensive advertising you might offer in allowed in your state ( and with your brokerages approval) to rebate their advertising expenses at closing they pay for with legitimate receipts off the commission.This way if a seller pulls off the market,goes with another brokerage mid listing, or tries to cancel early etc. the seller will be out the money and have skin in the game.

Here is a part of the letter, I sent to the seller:The home inspection was completed on September 29th (please see attached) and the following issues were pointed out: 1.The wooden floor frame in the middle unit is deteriorating due to either prior water leak in the bathroom or due to moisture infiltration through the walls and foundation.2.There is evidence of significant settlement under the middle unit bathroom and north closet.3.The settlement of the floor and walls has also resulted in settlement of the roof frame above this area, ceiling shows cracks.4.There is an obvious depression on the roof – water is ponding on the roof above the middle unit, which adds excessive weight on the roof and potential for leaks.5.Asbestos containing material has been found.6.The current bedroom heat installations in the north and south units pose a safety hazard from carbon monoxide, fire and oxygen depletion.7.An electrician performing upgrades did not use ‘arc fault breakers’ in the north and south unit breaker panels, which is required by the national electrical code.8.Upgrades to the electrical system, promised by a real estate agent, have not been completed yet.

If i'm heading down the wrong path I'm hoping to correct my direction at the beginning rather than finding out a year or more down the road when I have more skin in the game. 

@Andrew Michael  I agree with you Andrew, if I was a hard money lender I would be looking for skin in the game.  

They want to know that you have skin in the game and are committed to paying back. 

It provides an intuitive interface and a powerful calculation engine, which would be very costly for us to duplicate.But to make a tool that is both powerful and usable means we have to do a lot more that is not visible to the user as part of the familiar Excel skin.

Unless you are highly leveraged and don't have much "skin in the game" as they say, your cash on cash return will be very low.  

They want you to have you own skin in the game.

Nearly all investors would like to see someone that has some skin in the game.

They have to show skin in the game and something big to lose just like putting money down for a hard money loan to rehab and resale a house.