A HML wants the investor to have skin in the game.

Not many hard money lenders will do that.Most do 75% of ARV and they want some skin in the game.  90% purchase 100% rehab but you better have a proven track record.Its best to find another partner to bring into the deal and quick.

If I were 25 years old with minimal savings and 1 rental property, I would get basic coverage for replacement value with a lower deductible and higher premium.I am a 60 year old guy with 20 SFHs and healthy savings, so I ensure for actual cash value at 70% of market value with the highest deductibles and lowest premiums.

The fact remains that you have no skin in the game beyond your reinstatement amount.

The way to best secure you will make a healthy fee is to make sure you get the property at the lowest price possible so when you are adding your fee, the investor is still making a lot of money from it. 

It basically tells them you have no skin in the game and no money to buy their home so there really is no point for them.

Regardless of funding this deal banks are going to want skin in game.

Having a "day job": I'm close to retirement but still healthy and working.

Your best bet is to partner with a local investor who has skin in the game.

No.For at least half the people who read along quietly in these forums, people with healthy, stable incomes working 80-hour weeks who are looking for an alternative place to park their savings and watch the money grow, reaching for financial independence in this property class will always be a mirage.For almost all the rest, the idea of being a handyman as part of being a real estate investor is both repugnant and, to them, stupid.