Another friend of mine is in the counter-offer stage with his project in Merced. 

Personally I would recommend avoiding this arrangement all together.

What can I offer in return to make this a lucrative arrangement for the agent?

Anyway, I'm now at the stage of preparing to make offers and am looking for a Realtor that is also an active investor and is willing and able to provide insight into the Indianapolis market and real estate investing in general.

I guess in this stage of the cycle any wholesaler worth his grain is closing on his own real deals as there aren't enough of them to pass around for assignment fees.The few I know that actually have "Deals" never post anywhere, it's usually just a direct call/text or they toss on MLS depending on the market.

I was also contacted by a person here under the profile here on BP of Richard Apriot recommending a private lender and that he has an arrangement with the lender to get a point on this transaction.   

I got lost about half way through. paragraph ˈperəˌɡraf/nounnoun: paragraph; plural noun: paragraphs1. a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.synonyms:section, subdivision, part, subsection, division, portion, segment, passageMore"the concluding paragraph" report, article, item, sidebar, piece, write-up, mention"a paragraph in the newspaper" verbverb: paragraph; 3rd person present: paragraphs; past tense: paragraphed; past participle: paragraphed; gerund or present participle: paragraphing1. arrange (a piece of writing) in paragraphs.

I’ve always get stuck at this stage, I don’t want it to go away because it’s a potential deal I believe.

Some sort of profit sharing arrangement with the investor so that your interests are alignedAll in all, I'd say it is a risky play, but in risk lies great returns.

At this stage I doubt the city is worried about quick turn around to collect taxes.