I'd love to take you up on that offer and pick your brain a bit.

So I'm wondering what are the chances of a wild offer by a team of investors. 

I recently attended a probate sale and it required 10% offer price of deposit to be elligible to attend the bid.

An insurance agency could charge a fee as well but they'd have to show that too.If everything is the same on the policy (can be hard to tell with a cursory look at a quote) it's possible some of the internal risk information was changed a (such as year of update) and the underwriter changed pricing to reflect that.It's also possible one agency asked for pricing credits to get as close to a certain number (perhaps a number you told them based on the current policy) and the other agency was unaware of that number so they didn't ask for credits.That would be the most likely in most cases but it's odd since the quote was already created and given to you from The Hartford that it would change so much.By the way, your agent should be able to retake control of the quote quite easily with a signed BOR/AOR as discussed. 

Get to know the area you want to invest in based on your target market (to be determined by you) What will that amount of money get you down payment wise and if it fits the niche you have decided is right for you.

The offer was sent before lunch and now I'm waiting to hear back from the seller's agent!

People are afraid to make offers and that's okay with me. 

I'm not sure of the situation but based on the info I would approach this differently.

I've been interested in REI for a year or so, and am only just now finding out about the BP community and all of the resources it has to offer new investors.

Some states have source of income protections that would not allow you to decline an applicant solely based off of their participation in section 8.