Putting all your eggs in one basket to me is Investir suicide.

You forgot to put your location or the property’s location in your post or your profile.

A $0 security deposit just means you don't have to put anything down.

Generally unless the policy is a MEC loans are not taxable. a MEC is a Modified Endowment Contract and would mean that the cash put into the policy was too much too soon for the IRS’s liking.

Commisions were always negotiable and you always could put $1 co-op for buyers agents.

Sometimes a title company can get you the HOA rules before putting in an offer. 

You can also always put more down to cover risks and refinance into lower rates.

They will likely clarify as to how or why it's that much, and then it may make sense or make no sense at all, but at the very least just by you doint that, it puts them on notice.

We put our place on Facebook and whoever rent redi advertise through.

You could put a line in your lease about “the landlord understands the inconvenience of broken appliances and will attempt to repair them as quickly as is reasonably.”