I was running my own company in the music industry for the last 12 years where I was fortunate and disciplined enough to build up some savings to have as working capital knowing one day I would go into REI.I started my music company at 22 years old and was able to build a pretty well known brand in my field.I got burned out and lost my passion for it and decided a year ago it was time to move on to real estate.I'm still young enough and naive enough to think I can build an even bigger business in REI and eventually scale my way up to having a large portfolio of SFH's and MFR's. 

There’s owner finance deals which you could pursue through getting in touch with landlords who are burned out and frustrated with managing tenants.  

If it burns down through arson or incorrectly installed electrical the day all work is completed, before it is sold, can you ride out the loss.

*I admit I am not easy to work with, but I've been burned with tenants and contracts before.

You said that your initial offers were "80% - 90% of asking price".I don't know whether your market conditions are like mine, but I just ran the numbers on MFRs sold in my town (Plymouth, MA) and Boston over the last 6 months to look at the percentage of sale price to list price.Results: Plymouth MFRs sold in a range of 96.5% to 111.1% of asking (average 101.1%).Boston MFRs sold in a range of 58% to 143% of asking (average 99.6%)If the markets you're looking at are similar to mine, I can't blame the agent for thinking that you're going to burn up a lot of his time and gas and never get an offer accepted, which is most likely the reason he's looking for the $5,000 "retainer".That's not standard practice around here, but I do understand his reasoning.It's always useful to try to put yourself in another person's shoes. 

We just purchased a burned out old house in San Bernardino, CA.

Always keep the fire burning inside! 

It just really burns me up when people complain but unwilling to take action.

It's a close knit market with big players, so burning bridges is a last resort.  

Not really an expert on this as I don't use servicers as our notes don't require their services.. but yes I believe insurance is for SURE your responsibly and you don't want to delegate that to someone else.its not their money lost if the house burns down its yours.. so you have to be responsible for you investment.. you should inspect the dec page and make sure your on their as additional insured with the correct address etc etc... because borrowers are famous for not paying insurance and the next thing you know your un insured.. force place is expensive no doubt..