Negotiating felt like a game of chess—except I was playing against a grandmaster, and my queen was missing.

If they are CF positive then they will not cohnt against your DTI but will improve it...that's standard conventional guidelines barring a few exceptions.

There's no charge to me to get these funds except a yearly fee of 200.00. 

Tenants may not occupy residence without utility service except during brief interruptions beyond your control.

Think of it like a stock investing club that meets monthly to discuss, vet, and invest in stocks, except it's passive real estate investments.  

There are almost no exceptions to this, so it's not even worth considering.

With actual cash, you just transfer it. yes, but you can still bid with lender approval - without appraisal contingency - you send in deal (app), it gets approved by lender its functionally the same as cash (except in true lightning speed situations where there is a quick auction with little time to prep but thats generally pretty rare I'd think)Right, but that's not cash or functionally the same as cash because the lender can change the terms at the last minute, as often happens with less experienced hard money lenders.

The TL does not have any personal information about those leads, except the fact that I have been talking to them.- The TL states that those are technically the team's leads and I will owe the 20% if they convert within the year since I was given training (which I was not), lender referal (which was forced on me by the TL even though I work with my own lenders for my clients).Is the above statement true/legal/valid?

The borrower will need to be exceptionally qualified and have significant reserves (particularly for a jumbo or super jumbo loans of $1-2-5M++) Historically borrowers could qualify with 10-20% reserves of the amount financed, that could jump to 100%+ without significant state and federal intervention.

Some good into for you to have (and your seller) and steps forward:First: As you have learned, you cannot have two FHA loans unless you qualify for a couple of different exceptions.