If you take away 6% assumed agent fees, then we'd need ~25K cash to make up the difference to pay off the loan after the sale... which could hopefully be covered by the builder deposit.  

You may want to use listing spark- which will provide MLS (and other marketing sites) exposure for a fee.

Also you can save a lot of money if pm has their own handyman employees and do not need to sub out all repairs. my experience is that STRs outperform LTR by enough to cover the PM fees, utilities, and additional furnishing costs but not much more.  

I might tell you "fine, I'll buy it, you manage it, and I'll pay you the PM's fee." 

What do you want out of a GC:  Someone who has lots of quality sub connections, someone who doesn't soak you with their fee on top of Sub costs, someone who will be there to oversee manage the quality and speed of your project at least 3x per week and be in constant communication through calls and pictures. 

You can do everything right and they can still sue you and you will be liable for legal fees at minimum.

I pay an annual broker fee, small transaction fee (for E&O insurance etc), MLS fees for access and key lock systems, Realtor fees (which are higher than you think with both national and local), my own sign riders and sone marketing.

I am a RE Broker and have been one for 50 years now.. but I have not sold RE at the street level in about 15 years or so other than referral fees. here is my point of view.Listings will be worth more than they ever have been in the past I think thats self evident.As a high volume Seller of property here is how I am going to work it..

We had to hire an attorney and racked up legal fees that amounted to what the solar system was worth in the first place.

You can, however, ask a Realtor to just list your property in the MLS for a flat fee and do nothing else, meaning you answer any and all enquiries, show the property, do your own negotiations and make arrangements for the closing with either a title company or a real estate lawyer.