We like the idea but we want to come up with a counter offer that will save us from paying too much in taxes and maybe procure more profit in the end. 

After reading your post I circled back with the Acquisition Agent who procured this property, and he confirmed that the information provided by the seller was that no flood insurance was required on the property due to the floodplain simply encroaching on the backyard and not the house. 

If a property manager is going to rent, list, collect rents, procure prospects or negotiate, assist, or offer to perform any of those acts, he or she will need a broker's license.

The agent who showed you the property is the agent who has the procuring cause of the sale if you do end up buying it.

Definitely do your research in other markets to get your bang for your buck with your procurement strategy during that time. 

Your new agent might not get paid on the deal while your old agent will due to them being the procuring cause. 

Once you do decide to procure your first rental, definitely lean on the BiggerPockets community as a resource; I'll also say that it could be worth considering a shot at a software solution built for DIY landlords (1 - 15 units) to bring some automation to the rental management process (just to make things much much easier for you)!

Not a home run, but a good solid base hit, and it enabled me to learn a ton.

We don't hold properties and students trying to procure housing would find it gone long before the 3rd week of August or whenever school starts.

The nice thing is, they cashflow the day I buy them and when I increase the rents (which I can because that's what I buy - only buildings in areas where I KNOW with 100% certainty the rents are increasing), I create higher cashflow and higher value.This model is what I am doing and it enabled me to deliver double digit returns to my investors and no investor of mine has lost his/her capital with my company.So the model works ;)