As a real estate licensee I think you owe the owners an ethical duty to tell them what it would realistically sell for on the market too.

As I save and prepare for the initial expenses of becoming an active licensee is there anything I can do to jumpstart my business?

Looking for a brokerage. Does anyone know anything about the Thrive network of exp? Legitimacy, pros/cons, etc... 

Your broker is responsible for everything you do or fail to do as a licensee.

In my state the state itself has a recovery fund for instances where licensees do wrong and harm clients.

Maybe the friend is a newer licensee...Most good GCs will come in around the same general price range.

Getting paid from an agent when you are not licensed is NOT legal and the licensee could lose their license. 

Acting as a licensee is a felony. 

Texas bar licensees are exempt from TRELA.  

Seems like the most common regulations are (1) minimum rental period, usually 30 or 90 days (2) licensing requirements with the number of licensees being fixed (3) area exclusivity such as must be at least 600 feet from another STR and (4) applying hotel regulations such as occupancy tax, etc, to the STR.When my daughter was running a STR business very successfully in NYC in 2015-2016, the city decided to fine the apartment building where she had the STR leases $10,000 per day per unit for violation of safety codes.