Course of prior conduct may be used to determine what constituted acceptable quality.

Heck, who knows maybe they’ll be acceptable. 

Depending on your state you may or may not be allowed to accept a partial payment during the process.

Something problematic they find that was undisclosed on your application (not saying you'd do this, just giving an example), title issues, entity issues, issues with the appraisal even if the value is acceptable...you can either bite the bullet and pay for the appraisal, don't move forward with the loan, or try and find a HML/PML willing to lend to you without an appraisal. 

You would have to line up carriers that accept LLCs on non-owner-occupied dwelling coverage.

(Imagine if they had countered your offer at $500 higher, would you have accepted it?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

We used to do a lot socially which as the years have passed has dwindled but do still make time to have a meal together now and then.

Quote from @JD Martin: I think it's a bigger problem now that we have social media.

After months on the market, I made an offer over $20k under the asking price and it was accepted.