(I'm newer to this, so not as much experience as some of you in what sort of conditions people willingly tolerate.)

Home warranty companies are for people living in the home who can tolerate their philosophy of multiple band-aid visits until the system dies hard and completely. 

Once you narrow down the types of RE investment that suits your financial needs, time constraints, and risk tolerance, you'll be able to funnel down the amount of data you have to absorb.

The catch is I am only interested in paying cash for either rental or flip due to risk tolerance.

From some start-up capital, to a strong risk tolerance, as well as an ability to effectively analyze number.I've been reading these forums for a while, along with anything else I can get my hands on to learn as much as possible about investing in real estate.

., it sends a strong message, that we will enforce a zero tolerance policy on late payments.

To piggy back a bit on what @Ned Carey is suggesting in deciding the kind of property you want then locating the area...also deciding on your personal risk tolerance is important too.  

You need to inform your tenant that late payments will not be tolerated and late fees will be enforced.

But for a rental this can be tolerated as long as the hard money loan can be REFIed out into a 30yr perm financing and get by the appraisal.  

It depends on your risk tolerance, but there are certainly plenty of those lower price point properties available that you could purchase.