I only signed a 5 month agreement so I could test the waters. 

They also have an exam cram which is a one day class which is geared towards passing the test.

You don't have to "work for a broker" but you do need a broker to hang your license with, train you (taking and passing the test does little to train you in the actual application of being a successful agent), and provide errors and omissions insurance.

I work at a real estate company doing graphics and marketing and passed the real estate test weeks ago but don't have my number yet.

I would recommend a different marketing piece every 4 weeks for 5-7 months from past data analysis, but you should test this out for your market and see what works best response rate wise.Also, when you become more advanced you will want to do split testing and other methods.

One of the cheapest I could find, and I did well enough on the test to past the first time.  

We're going to spray for mold, but we have a buddy that does air quality and mold testing for a living.  

You have to have your own test performed and it has to be in your name.

Test results positive for Asbestos on walls, and ceiling in kitchen area, and flooring the glue bonding under old vynal tiles, which is covered by carpet den and hallway.

The only thing about a crashed market is that it may make it more likely to find such a deal, so in actuality it may very well take until that happens for a newbie to find one, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't look for a great deal because that hasn't happened yet, and it doesn't mean that you shouldn't invest if you find one of those before a crash happens, it just means that you should NOT buy anything at any time that is NOT a great deal, or buy anything (great deal or not) that you can't realistically afford to hold through a downturn under some reasonably bad analysis stress tests.