I am not a realtor, so I cannot give advice as though I am one, but there are some guidelines that I have used personally over the years, with great success.

I think the 10-14% rate is where it will be for the next five or so years personally so plenty of opportunity

Personally, I’ve been looking for ways to align creativity with the numbers, whether that’s finding undervalued properties, building relationships with local agents, or pivoting to new strategies.

I am personally buying a lot in Casa Grande, Arizona.

What I was getting at is that even investing "out of state", let alone out of the country, is more difficult when you don't have any personal connections and even more difficult with your first property.

IF it was not on an auction site none of the information would be known unless you do your own research. they could say its a 3bed 2 bath home and you go buy and its burned down (seen that before). 100% is on the person bidding at auction.

In place of a flat fee I can see the transition being something based on referral (did my buyer agent get me a trades person, lender, home inspector, etc.

So why is the $2,500mnth person paying $250 and the other one paying $350 ??????

I personally don't like the idea of using OPM as is often recommended for people without their own capital.

This is probably a place where you go to one of the personal loan sites to borrow money or maybe a credit union.