Whew As obvious as it seems i've seen some crazy financial reports on people looking to get funding

The whole process made me realize I like the real estate industry way more than my current one(financial analyst).

If you aspire to have rental properties you might like the financial benefits of keeping your existing house as a rental when you buy your next primary residence, if that's an option for you.Primary residence home mortgages have a lower interest rate than investment mortgages traditionally, so by buying your next primary residence and hanging on to your old one, you get to keep your lower interest rate on both properties.

Am I being foolish to try and protect the equity (from appreciation) and should I instead focus on protecting the $160K in hard dollars I've invested in the property to date ($60K down payment, $70K in rehab, $30K mortgage principle)?

There just aren’t a lot of lenders willing to do it.To protect the seller, the loan is limited recourse.

He's a hard money lender with Pine Financial and they have 100% finance programs.

It is simply necessary in this day and age to protect your business interests.

It really struck a cord with my financial position and needs with my current full time career.

It's a business, if you find some is abusing it financially (not paying rent) or physically (damages),, you push the envelope and write up a lease violation and if necessary evict.. doing regular inspections let's you bill tenant for undue damages when they occur.. and yet still have the deposit left to help when they leave.If you haven't yet,, download copy of the landlord tenant laws for your state.. 

Borrower makes request to lienholder to consider short sale...lienholder provides borrower instructions on what to do for the lienholder to consider shortsale request...borrower (Seller) does what lienholder tells them to do and when they have all of their stuff (Purchase agreement, MLS listing, bank statements, tax returns, and/or whatever else the lienholder needs/wants) they give it to the lienholder to review and either approve, counter or deny the shortsale request.Your purchase agreement should include as much protection as possible for you in case the deal doesn't close.