I'm making up numbers, but if he bought the house for $200K and it is now worth $500K, he's made $300K. 

Their expertise is worth the cost to do it right the first time.

With the potential for a small financial loss on your end, litigation would certainly not be worth the hassle and expense.

pack your trips with showings and meetings.if it's not worth it to you to spend some time and money doing that... then don't spend tens of thousands of dollars on a property.

Other cities like Akron or Dayton in Ohio might also be worth exploring for affordable properties and good returns.

If you are only offering $100k I think its worth speaking to an agent and letting them make the $3-5k as an agent (if they would do it for that) on this deal. 

@Mike Grudzien @Tim Delaney do you guys think it'd be worth joining a credit union in the city I used to live just to get the rate even if I'm out of state now, will they still give a better rate? 

In general tenants with a credit score worth preserving pay all that is owed.

Unfortunately they don't care how much your worth they care how much you earn a month.

However, I do think the experience was great for what it was worth and for how long it lasted.