@Zackarias Aitchison FYI -- Webinar on 6/18/19: "Common Mistakes Made by First-Time Syndicators" by Gene Trowbridge and Jonathan Nieh

Most common way to do it without partners is getting a juicy enough value-add deal where you can refi out your down payment.

I have worked a number of similar scenarios. 

It's a great scenario. 

Is it common to use a buyer broker/agent when purchasing apartment buildings?

I plan on demolishing & doing ground up construction, with common areas including garden beds, light workout area & gathering space . 

I have not seen any statistics showing that sellers have been successful in negotiating down commissions other than in one-off scenarios.

Backstory: two luxury cabins in the Rocky Mountains, each sleep a max of 16 but 8-10 guests is more common.

Is some of it for common areas? 

For a Lead Safe certificate (which shows that lead dust levels are within tolerances and has to be re-done periodically, as opposed to Lead Free, which shows that there isn't any lead to worry about and doesn't have to be renewed) almost all scenarios can be remediated by cleaning or repainting (followed by cleaning, of course).