There are other players and it is an extremely active market, so research a lot and stay up to date on users' forum to get the latest information.For maximum overfunded permanent life insurance, I personally prefer Index Universal Life insurance as, on the long run, they will provide higher return than Whole Life insurance, but may, in the short term, have more volatility.

On the other hand you may lose on a good rental property that is already or has the potential to cash flow regardless of price.

On a larger scale, how do you protect yourself from losing any money when submitting offers on deals that you need to back out of (any and all contingencies). 

I've tried various things: shorter inspection time period (typically it's 10 days here, and if you do a 3 or 5 day inspection time you can be attractive b/c the seller can get it back on market quicker if you find something you don't like during inspection period); non-refundable earnest money (maybe $1000 of money that you will not get back for any reason on your side - not if the seller breaches-- should the offer not go to completion - this shows you are an extremely interested buyer, but you could lose the money, so use cautiously and with the advice of your agent who knows how to correctly write that into the contract); put a limit on the repair request no required by lender - cap it at $0/as-is, or $500; a higher earnest money - like $5000, shows you are serious.

They are valued based on comps and not NOI / Cap Rate, so you lose the ability to drive appreciation, and if you cannot find good comps, they can be hard to refinance or sell.

You lose no matter what. 

Will you lose $30k of credit or will you still be able to have the $50k of credit?)

On the umbrella, the question for you is: Am I OK with losing all that I have if I am sued? 

You could lose 20% of your money.

You lose time and will probably win in small claims if you have your ducks in a row… then you have to collect.