you have closing costs on the purchase, holding costs during the rehab, and closing costs and commissions when you sell.and the short answer is no, it's difficult to get conventional financing on both ( 1 ) cheap properties and ( 2 ) distressed properties. 

I know that typically there is a 5 to 6% commission in most Resi transactions.

So, you can discuss things like a fixed upfront fee, tying your pay to a successful deal, or sharing the commission with another realtor.

Our local planning commission passed rules on 'food truck parks' such as they have to provide restrooms.

If possible, not use an agent, to lower commission owed expense (not sure if this is possible in Chicago, IL).

Business Broker deals take even longer than Commercial RE and there are even fewer people doing it than Commercial RE but the commissions can be even higher.I am not sure that I can even fathom how to do this.

Let them spend their money (wholesaling is expensive and don't let anyone tell you otherwise) and train you to get the deals for commission.

However, what I am trying to figure out is can I be an MLO and lets say that I get someone pre-approved and refer them to a realtor, that realtor then goes and helps them find their dream home and gets under contract, once the deal closes could I, as now a licensed realtor as well, get a referral commission from the real estate agent I referred them to.

Locals don’t like paying commissions.  

As we began to sell some of the homes off in 2009 and 2010, we realized we needed to become more official and try to establish a way for us to keep some of the commission dollars in-house.