I had a bank place a 2nd mortgage on a nearly paid off property to cover the 20% down needed on another in my corporation.

But, the rent income easily covers more than a 30yr mortgage monthly payment (depending on the loan terms, it could even cover the payments for a 15yr mortgage with a low down payment).

The only way to know is to read the contract.What they have done is to eliminate the responsibility of the settlement agent to ensure the terms and agreements contracted have been met, they can't be responsible for something they have no knowledge of.Your title insurance is an insured closing, meaning the title insurance covers errors and omissions in the closing and settlement according to the contract as agreed, if they don't get the contract they can't ensure terms were met and they won't insure any error in missing something not disclosed.IMO, your settlement agent and title insurance company are avoiding risks by simply accepting instructions and basically performing only an accounting and administrative function of filing and document collection along with tax filings.

The seller may decide that he can't afford to sell without a high enough cash down payment to cover the income tax bill.

Make sure you have enough margin where you cover holding cost, rehab cost, seller contingencies, and still can make a profit.

I now have a great foundation of knowledge and my courses in AZ covered the basics of financing, property management, the different career fields in real estate and in addition I had that added bonus of having an investor as an instructor which was priceless!

The DRE has a formula for figuring how much is necessary to have on hand to cover costs, etc.

I currently am so if you wanted to bounce some ideas off each other let me know.I've also done some equity trading, more specifically covered call option writing.

It covers several areas of expertise that you will have to learn about or hire people to help you with.

Get a $M liability policy, that covers the most serious issues worst case usually, like death.