Maybe I’m not understanding things correctly, but wouldn’t the risk of a major fire coming through again be lower since much of the old kindling has now been burned?

Why not try the numbers at lower offer prices to experiment with the numbers you want/need and figure out the most you are willing to pay for it.

They are living in a market they are priced out of and look to Midwestern cities for lower entry prices.They do not have the time, ability &/or desire to be an active operator in the business of rental real estate.

But I declined and said the lower offer stands .  

Then you do one of two things, lower expenses or raise income.

If your score is, let's say, 775 in Credit Karma, you can expect your score in the report run by a lender to be 25-35 points lower (or more strict), like 740. 

Above market rents may be achieved by tricking out a unit to the 9s and attracting a tennat with more money than brains.Charging under market diminishes the value of your property and attracts lower quality applicants.

You will have to decide what the break even point is for your goals.Just remember when you use this strategy cash flow is normally lower than it would be with a standard Buy and Hold deal.  

We told each of the buyers that we had multiple full price offers and that the only way they cold sweeten the pie was to lower the closing cost that we would have to pay.

That's what we did years ago when returns on 2nds were generally higher and our private investors were making in the 10% to 12% range...but it would probably be lower today.