I have an opportunity and need some BiggerPockets advice!

I am currently closing on a Short Sale Duplex down in Chicago with the following numbers:

$500K Purchase Price

$100K Rehab budget

$750K After Repair Value

$30K equity available for cash out refi if needed

Note – My wife and I plan to live in this unit, let it appraise a bit more and then sell it and cash out or BRRR it when we are ready to move on.

The unit next to mine is exactly the same as the one I mention above and I just found out that the same family owns it / manages the current renters in it. They also exclusively use the listing agent I worked with on my property.

I am wondering, how can I make sure I am first in line for this deal (when it hits the market) or possibly work with the agent on an off market deal? I am guessing that owners may be underwater on this property like the one above. If that is the case, who knows if they are waiting for the bank to approve a short sale, etc.

Any advice on how I aggressively and appropriately approach the agent on this deal? Any tips or tricks on how I can ask if it they want to sell now? If it will be a short sale? Are they trying to get short sale approval? If it is a short sale, I am fairly certain they will need to list it and show that multiple offers were submitted to the bank for ethical reasons.

Additionally, should I really use an agent on this deal? In my experience, if it’s a short sale, not working with an agent really does nothing because the bank is technically the owner and explaining to them that they will save 3% of realtor commission is useless. I figured I might as well throw my agent an easy win if they aren’t going to take the 3% off the purchase price.

Please help me craft a message they can’t refuse!