, as a reward I get to buy a cute "tiny house" on 3 acres by Lake Huron for $5K down on a nice land contract (so much better than buying an expensive purse or something)...

Your agent should be forced to provide their time and knowledge, not just get a cut from any property you buy.

In my timber days I looked at one 8 acre property out of felton that had over 2 million board feet of redwood on it.. at 1000 a thousand that's 2 million in timber... but the greenies we could never get a cutting permit.. and had to decamp to Oregon.. to put it in perspective in the commercial douglas fir timber grounds you need close to 80 acres to get the same MBF yield.. there are legal lots of record up virtually every drainage coming out of santa cruz and going up the coast towards half moon bay and along skyline..

That reason may just be that it is a cute 2 bedroom duplex on the edge of a C class neighborhood (this would be ok)... or it could be because only homeless people want to live on the street (this would be a nightmare.)Interview Contractors in advance.

You have to calculate repair cost for your buyer, consider Realtor fees on sale, and make a maximum offer that gets you a cut.  

How can I present the deal to a cash buyer if I don't have it under contract and still guarantee my getting a cut?

Being overly price conscious, just means you will be susceptible to purchasing a cut rate policy.

I chose 2005 as a cut off year because it somewhat matched the previous housing cycle.4. 

I have found a cute Cottage that has already had all the demo done. it is for sale by owner and they were listing possible owner financing. at 35000 I think this could be a dream situation to get in to.

I almost bought a cute 50k 1/1 in Lehigh acres but it was in Lehigh acres lol.