Didn't he have title search and title insurance? 

Buying as a primary residence gives you a lower interest rate, lower insurance and starts building up credit and home equity that you can borrow on later. 

They love being able to auto pay online and I love that I can see they have scheduled payments.

Between having minimal liability risk in my own personal activities, renting to only the very best tenants, having excellent independent tenant screening, long time property management relationships, adequate per property insurance coverage and tack on umbrella coverage as/if necessary, I am more than adequately covered.

Old age is expensive and you need to insure your investments are more than sufficient to take you to the end.

And a lot of the little guys don't have insurance to build more than a duplex.

Long term commercial debt lenders make adjustments but does not generally follow that.For high quality assets i am currently seeing about 4.8 percent for 10 year debt. 5 year fixed I am seeing about 4.5%.If a life insurance company they can go lower on rates but want minimum 35% down and more picky on the properties to lend on.Seller financing can be great BUT just remember to not way overpay for an asset just to get that.

Some landlords require auto-draft (auto pay) but pre-payment makes the lease collection-proof.

Can anyone recommend Insurers in the Kansas City area, for properties that are vacant, and/or under rehab? 

I've been using the same insurance agency for many years, but they recently changed the company name and staffing.