Good service, but they're not really in-charge of the loan, and can just escalate to FACO for you.   

This won't cost you same charges it just another trip for appriser to go in and check if that fix or not.

You can charge whatever you want. 

Is anyone familiar with whether or not there is a government surcharge on conventional loans on residential investment properties and if so what are the details?

If you are paying rent and plan on living in LA for many years you look at numbers differently than an investor that looks for cash flow from day one.The plan is to buy something that needs work and the rents are below market, then rehab and refinance to a conventional to get rid of the PMI.

I know there are conventional loans the require 20% down, but are there any other loans that require a lower down payment such as 5%-10%.

And that's great because a lot of the local governments of the littler cities are really responsive.In Bedford (25 minutes from downton CLE), the city charges a minimum of $50 a month per unit.

Guru wants to charge me $5k for acquiring the property (bidding)Guru wants to charge me $10k for managing the rehab and using he software to find the golden nugget properties)Plus the auction site charges a 10% buyers premium which I would also paySo overall guru wants $15k each ($30K for both buy/holds) to buy and manage the rehab remotely.

Sure he charges, but you will know exactly what you need to know.

if you decide to go ahead I would suggest doing what I did I charged One year upfront and the lease was with the parents of the occupants I had theor security numbers and they were personally responsible for any damages At no limitI first went to a real estate attorney and had him write up he lease to make sure it was all legalWorked perfectly when a group of them did nearly $10,000 worth of damages Mommy and daddy paid up within days of them leaving at the end of the school year.