Your offer is always a balancing act of indicating to the seller what you are willing and able to do in order to perform, and protecting your earnest money.

Additionally, with all the money printing going on currently, I see debt as another tool protect against inflation. 

With markets now at all time highs, the appraiser is the eyes of the lender/bank and their job is to protect the lender not you.

It's best to give the benefit of the doubt, but this is also a business and you need to protect your investment in the case that this type of behavior becomes repetitive. 

I am just trying to make the tenant have a bit more protection than doing it out in the sun which is the current situation and without spending 25k to add a room .

The barrier of entry is high for quality STNL's but it protects my downside and fits my investment strategy of stable predictable cashflow. 

How do I structure a partnership and get the protection of an LLC if I'm doing all the financing in my own name?  

It only purpose is legal protection. 

The law does protect them from eviction, but only if they can demonstrate the inability to pay.

Because you don't understand the value a good agent brings to the table, I would argue your agent may not be that good.The agent can still negotiate on your behalf and protect you from making a mistake or disclosing the wrong thing.