I mainly plan to use my license to give my family and I more speedy and detailed access to available properties and cut our costs on rehab & flip houses. 

I had to hire an local attorney do a eviction on the former tenants plus I paid 1k to clean out the house and cut the yard.

The seller insisted that I use his attorney as the escrow agent, which I typically don’t do, but the deal was relatively cut and dry so I was agreeable after drafting favorable escrow language.

This cuts down on "the check is in the mail" or "I placed it in your mailbox at 11:59 last night". 

The juice usually isn't worth the squeeze in situations like this, and the added professional liability, administrative hassle, and paperwork might not be worth it.And remember - Your broker gets his or her usual cut (based on what your agreement with them says), so it may not be worth your time either.

They talk about budgeting and we were surprised at how much we were able to cut down, even as recently as a couple of months ago.

However, if you aren't intending to return to the area and don't see a positive (in $$ terms) exit from the property (enough to make you want to keep it) than I would cut your losses/take your profits and invest elsewhere.As for purchasing in a new area...if you intend to stay in the area then buy nice house for your family.

And that's if economy is hot, if it's not they'll cut. 

And that would lead to my best suggestion for cutting costs: Let someone else (a mail house or an online outfit like Click2Mail) perform the labor tasks for you.

I bet they are in it 50k on legal fees now its highly complicated Old railroad right away that was bought by the state and now its a state asset were they are making it a bike and walking path and the state it turns out cannot be sued for an easement of necessity.. its quite complicated really at the end of the day its a 500k chunk of dirt they either get me my right of way or cut me a check,Now that I am doing business in your fare state and in Charleston SC that has old old parcels and deeds that go back pre civil war..