Common sense would tell me to share; mostly concerned about liability, etc. 

Is this a scam or something I should look into? 

Then you may be able to negotiate, if you can find out the reason why they're asking you to waive the inspection contingency you might be able to find common ground.For instance one property we purchased we came across a similar situation.

This is exactly what I was thinking about and I knew it was common in NJ.

It's all there.If this breakdown in communication is going to be you pointing out that the lease clearly says the tenants are responsible for X, and then people start flipping out the you should really consider moving on.The most common thing I say on a daily basis "What does the lease say?"

I had a contractor at the house who heard some of the conversation with a neighbor and said I need to be careful as the resistance won't only be verbal or a cold shoulder, but other forms of intimidation are common in the area - harassments, stones through car windows, etc. - things that this contractor had experienced himself.  

Educate yourself on how to identify/fix the most common problems for your main systems and then walk your tenant through it.

Once you move out, virtually all Insurance companies will want the Homeowners policy to be changed to a form for a rented dwelling (most commonly called a Dwelling Fire policy). 

More commonly, investors are told to find a property with no equity, buy it subject to, and sell it “lease option or lease to own” with the buyer (renter) paying an option fee and above market rent with part of the rent going toward the purchase price, should the buyer ever be able to excel use the option.Here’s the problem with those strategies1.

With previous investors, I've actually seen it more common to get better ROI on the units that aren't waterfront, with some exceptions of course.