@Steve Christensen  same can be said about someone with no experience trying to wholesale real estate I mean at the core your just being an unlicensed real estate agent so all of the things you describe a wholesaler needs to do to be successful and 90% of those that start wholesaling burn out.. no support group for them ( IE brokerage )...

Their locksmiths are unlicensed and just break things to get in since they don't know any better.First thing I would do is call the police and report it. 

This is how most unlicensed brokers operate.

Some assistants gain access to the MLS, but they are very limited to what they can/cannot do within a real estate office if they are unlicensed. 

Christopher Unice Many UNLICENSED contractor says that, there is only licensed or unlicensed as far as CA goes, no such thing as handyman here.

If you decide to hire an unlicensed designer, please make sure he/she comes highly recommended and ask for a ton of references.

Unlicensed wholesaling is illegal in almost every state. 

Not sure where this property is, but a rebate from an agent to an unlicensed person is illegal in almost every state.

I'm sure you could bargain down to $400-500 in some of those seedy seasonal strip-mall unlicensed tax practices that are shuttered from April 15th to January.And, while I try to avoid hyperbole, your returns would be a disaster if you did that.You're not buying lumber. 

Should that house fall through, and I"m hooked on the guy from our initial meeting then moving forward I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable fee for a total renovation bid due to the last one not panning out....but again...first meeting...I think we are both checking each other out...for free.That's my opinion...but, I will go in with an open mind and I won't necessarily disqualify meeting/getting bid from a new contractor just because he charges a fee...but I will need to be cautious that I am not throwing $100 at a shady unlicensed uninsured GC or a handyman posing.