Ultimately, what I am trying to do is extract the existing equity from the property.  

You would never want a barrier like that present when lending on a piece of collateral  that is ultimately the thing of value in the whole process.You asked above - is the inability for the piece of collateral to cover the default that big of a deal.

Here are some posts with Books:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/414...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/414...The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate: https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonat...Dashboard: https://www.biggerpockets.com/dashboardBP Course: https://www.biggerpockets.com/courses

Whether it's real estate or attempting some other business, timing and luck play a HUGE role in the ultimate outcome.The failure (or mediocre outcome) rate of running a business is soooo high - I'm not convinced the risk adjusted returns are any different from real estate.

I ultimately plan to utilize double close, but like I said just trying to get my feet wet.  

In person, do you think a 30's woman or a 30's man is more likely to be taken seriously and ultimately trusted to close the deal by the seller?

Of course, you need to read The Ultimate Beginners Guide to REI here on BPIf you haven’t already, please read/listen to these books ASAP!

Both the Ultimate Beginners Guide and Brandon's book on Investing with low and money down are great resources for learning about RE financing. 

The first is the ultimate Beginners Guide to Real Estate Investing by Brandon Turnerhttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/01/3...The second is a list of books that you should definitely check out to decipher which strategy is best for you to achieve your goalshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/04/1...

Ultimately, I decided not to make an offer.