So now these investors need to trust a lead/sponsor/etc. with infinitesimally small skin in the game.Okay, that said, I’ve made more than a few assumptions to get to this point.

Offering an upfront deposit (earnest money) during the purchasing process shows you are serious about purchasing (the more deposit money you offer then the more serious you come across to the seller)...and from the sellers standpoint it protects their interests by forcing the buyer to have some skin in the game and making it less likely the potential buyer will just walk away from the deal and risk losing their deposit.

Most HML's  look at down payment as the borrower's skin in the game (usually 10 to 20%) and then finance the rehab 100%. 

There are literately dozens and dozens of ways to skin this cat. 

But what's tough is that most HMLs will not allow junior lienholders, mainly because they want you personally to have skin in the game. 

The problem with refinancing an investment property banks Want you to have skin in the game if your not going to live there.

ice cream melts and concrete cracks. 

So I contacted several PM's and had three in mind, but one of them only will take the "cream of the crop" listings in the great zip codes.

No, and @Wayne Brooks is correct.If the lender is your Uncle Moneybags then he might allow you to have zero skin in the game, otherwise don't expect this not to be immediately obvious to any lender. 

This way you have skin in the deal.