My concern would be getting quality property management for that 10-20 unit. 

I don't want to be in a position of looking for new Tenants so soon .

They are a local company that builds houses from the ground up who do quality work without cutting corners.

The issue I keep running into is that lenders want to be in 1st position.

If you did decide you still wanted more protection you could place the lease under an LLC, in that the property is under your name but the Tenant is dealing with and interacting with the LLC which is on the Lease, in essence if they sue due to any management mishaps they would be suing the managing LLC and it would give you some protection of which if they got through that then you would fall back on your second line of protection, your insurance - this would also let your LLC season and position it to buy property in the future.

The issue I keep running into is that lenders want to be in 1st position.

We did a good quality job in Baltimore City. 

If there is no mortgage on the property, you could give the seller the money to install the septic as a mortgage in the 1st position to protest your money.When dealing with banks, they can complicate things so, the 203k could take some time or not even close the deal.Hope this helps

It's messy but so positive. 

Finding good contractors has always been difficult, its the hardest part of this business, and with new home builders working again they are sucking up a lot of the quality people and driving up prices.