You pay for it, you work for it, you have substantial risk involved, the only person who should benefit is you.  

The likely hood that you will convince him to change his policy and refund your money without filing is zero.

To be fair, he has been involved in real estate for decades (owned a manufactured homes company, flipped homes for a few years, etc.), but he is absolutely convinced that there's no way I could buy lower end homes in my city to rent without ending up bankrupt.

I think realtors can add it to their contract, but it would be up to you to file with the state.

A friend recently had a tenant through the tenant's agent want to buy their house, and it fell through even with the agent involved as the tenant didn't qualify for the financing. 

If the market does plung into recession, I’m confident that the properties I own in the markets I do will perform better than most and therefore I’ll have staying power.All loans involve risk, so I select debt products and terms that I feel minimize my risk and are commensurate with the return i think I’ll be able to generate.  

The buyer was FHA and the lender found out later about the 90 day flip rule so had to close and reopen the file again.

Just kiddin'.Anyone going through foreclosure has several things going on: 1) They are under a lot of stress, 2) Everybody is mailing to them and knocking on their door, 3) They are embarrassed, 4) They feel helpless, 5) They have the belief that winning the lotto will bail them out at the last minute, 6) It's the bank's fault, 7) This can't be happening to them, 8) They don't want to sell, 9) The house (even though it has a leaky roof and hasn't been kept up) is worth more than market price, 10) Believe you are there to take advantage of them, 11) Believe the government should do more to protect them, 12) Believe that their payments reduce the principal directly proportionate to their payment (Have no concept of compound interest, what Einstein called "the 8th wonder of the world"). 13) They can file a Chapt 13 bankruptcy at the last minute and keep the house if they have income, 14) They will wait until the day before the sale and call you if none of the other solutions work.Your opening comment should be " I buy houses in the area and I was wondering if you or someone you know might be interested in selling".

I've been curious to know if you had to go through a title company to set this up, since I won't be actually filing anything at the courthouse or transferring title.

While many agree the accredited status is high, there are reasons for it (namely to protect everyone involved, especially the investor) and the SEC has also allowed non-accredited/sophisticated folks to invest in these types of deals through a different structure - the 506(b).It is 100% okay for you to reach out to Sponsors or other people putting together the deals you're referring to.