Can I, as the "buyer", email offers to the listing agent?

[Alexandra Q.]

Hi there- newbie investor here.

So I registered with this brokerage firm that also teaches you how to do wholesaling, rehabs, commercial deals etc.... They have a pretty good reputation in my area. I'm paying a monthly fee ($150) which is refundable after 30 days but since I'm working with a REA, they also had me pay a $495 fee, which they say they will refund after we close the first deal. They told me they just want to make sure that I'm not wasting their time and leave after the 30 days. The contract that I signed doesn't say that the fee is refundable but the supervisor of the agent I'm working with assured me they will refund after closing my first deal so I'm ok with it.  The program that they offer is really interesting but I want to close my first deal before fully committing.

I'm fine with the situation especially that I'm basically writing the offers. All the agent does is send me screened MLS listings that I picked through listingbook and he does the negotiations. The goal is to send at least 5 to 8 offers per day knowing that most of them will be rejected (they're all low ball offers but we're looking for motivated sellers). So I don't mind doing that if it can get me a nice deal.

My issue is they want me to Efax the offer instead of emailing the listing agent directly. I feel like emails are way faster. So is there an issue with the "buyer" emailing the listing agent directly? I was going to forward the responses to my REA and have him respond and CC me on the exchange. Instead, he told me that the buyer should not be emailing the seller's REA but I feel like this isn't a regular REA-Buyer relationship. I'm part of a real estate investor course/program that teaches you how to become an investor and I would like to be involved in the negotiation process so I can learn. And I want to be able to email the offers directly because it's faster!

So in a normal situation, how uncommon would it be to let the buyer email the listing agent directly? Since I'll be refunded the broker's fee and technically I'm in "training", I feel like my REagent shouldn't be giving me this kind of instructions unless it's illegal for a "buyer" to be THAT involved in this process??