Home inspection standard contracts limit their liability to the cost of their inspection.

I think you'd be fine sticking with a standard 50%.

Going through the vetting process is standard. 

That means you are buying at a significant discount (because it is a distressed property),  and it will require a decent amount of repairs to get it to Market standards (and force equity appreciation).  

Upon Optionee exercising of this option, both parties agree to move forward with thenecessary standard purchase and sales agreement.6.

Our incomes have both risen steadily over the past year so we are actually hoping to move out of our current home in the Bay Area into more of a long term home in the same area in next 12 months, which would leave us with 2 rental properties, after which we would hopefully start saving to build our real estate portfolio further.However, having just finished our 2016 taxes, we learned that we are unable to claim any of the standard deductions including maintenance, depreciation, et cetera as we exceed the income limit, leaving us with a huge tax bill.  

Otherwise 20-25% down is pretty standard.  

Just come up with a nice, standard response to copy/paste to weed out the dreamers and help the people who maybe can.  

Private lenders are an abundant source of funding, but there's no bricks-and-mortar establishment, no standard process other than SEC regulations, just your own ability to build relationships - a key skill for an agent / broker.My $0.02 ...

They might not require the "standard" 20%-25% down but they could be more stringent when it comes to the property cash-flowing as-is, you cash-flowing, etc.