Also, rather than taking a large amount of money and investing into one single directly owned property, I can split it up into much smaller chunks across many different passive investments.

I plan to wrap it as an exit strategy,  but assuming worst case scenario, If I were unable to make payments and foreclose, the seller takes the property but would my credit or record be okay?

So, if you are taking 2% of the 5% from the listing commission, it would not come from the agent, the agent has the contract with the seller for the 5%.

Why not take out a loan from the equity to pay off that debt?

At least by my take.

While using financing does mean I don’t keep 100% of the profit due to borrowing costs, it allows me to take on multiple projects at once and operate in higher price ranges than if I were only using my own capital. 

He also charged a $300 nonrefundable pet fee for "inspect[ing] the unit and to take action, if need be, by revoking the lease if the pets have been a nuisance or has not been maintained."

Congratulations on taking that big step to getting your first deal.

They changed the zoning map to make every side street RS-3 so these developers are just taking 2-4 units in non-conforming status and by right making it a SFH. 

Then they complain that our process takes too long!