(Sidenote: I am not sure why people would execute a contract and pay someone for a service that requires you to be active in that service where they could stop providing the service). 

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Maybe they have done a deal or two or four, but are not making enough from the deals to support themselves, so need to sell their knowledge.Second, people who really are no longer active in real estate.  

Looks like many people are mentioning Crexi and Loopnet but my impression was that good deals get picked up before reaching those forums and the best way to get a good deal is via an agent active in your target market.

If they're not actively involved, It needs to be done correctly.I had a friend a few years ago do this through mortgage notes. 

Unless there's an active leak, there's no reason.

You can look this up with the City which makes active and inactive trade licenses available to search.

If you invest that money elsewhere you should expect 8, 10, 12% or even MORE if you do active value add investing like BRRRRs.

I have a lot of passive activity losses on my tax returns which will keep getting pushed forward. 

What we are seeing is a massive increase in the number of properties for sale which has resulted in more competition between sellers and more of a balanced market than we've seen in a long time.If we continue to have a high number of properties for sale and a shortage of active and able buyer's then we should have some really solid buying opportunities even if the overall market doesn't drop.