Did you ever find out more information about insurance and liability?

Asking an attorney if you have enough legal protection is like asking an insurance sales guy if you have enough insurance.

Utilizing an attorney sans title insurance can work well - IF the attorney is knowledgeable and experienced in real estate transactions and the parties are ok forgoing title insurance.  

Is that just the mortgage or are you counting in insurance and taxes?

I use Auto Owners Insurance.

Yes, this creates problems for title companies and title insurers to resolve. 

It is always better to start with a multi-unit 2+ so that if something goes wrong, you still have one tenant to cover necessary expenses (mort, taxes, insur, etc).Also, major renovations are not a great idea for starting out as others said, especially out of state.

Our insurance policy for the project alone was well over $100k. 

Remember the lowest price is not always the best when it comes to insurance!

It’s given me the opportunity to save and prepare for my next upcoming purchase.I’ve gotten the units from $750x2 and $800x2 to a consistent $900. current mortgage is $2500 monthly, refinancing to a conventional and removing mortgage insurance should bring me to $2100.