Purchase price: $34,000 Cash invested: $16,000 Procured an investor for this deal and I live in the house while I’m fixing it up.

You'll hear people parrot, equity comes and goes but the cash always flows.

The only issue I can see by initially circumventing your agent could potentially be "cut out" of the deal and/or their commission when you do end up writing an offer because the listing agent could argue that your agent was not "procuring cause" for your interest in the property since you contacted the listing agent directly and began negotiations. 

That's a good question and I think I'll parrot Dion McNeeley when he talks about his online program. 

Does researching/scheduling/attending  inspections, procuring insurance, etc. count? 

My conviction for doing out of state fix/flips was mainly procured by the desire to have more options and opportunities available rather than having to be tied a more trying California market.

But, parroting what others have said, your real job on a BRRRR is to get the highest appraisal possible so you can pull all your money back out.

I have found time is better spent building tools to quickly analyze & procure new deals, rather than hyper-analyzing the metrics of one deal, ultimately making initial review faster & more reliable (spend time on the things that make sense, quickly remove things that don't, even junior-level staff can identify good opportunities with the tools, etc).For example, if I'm modeling a SFR to 3-4 unit scheme, I can quickly check the $/sf/mo for each of my proposed units and get a good idea of the GOI without having to manually dig through &  find rent comps in that City/Zip:- So instantly I know in Woodland Hills that a Studio is close to $5/sf/mo on avg, 1 Bedroom closer to $4/sf/mo, with the 2 & 3 Bedrooms closer to $3/sf/mo.

There's typically a time limit to how long that lasts, but the fact is this agent helped you and is considered the "procuring cause" of the deal, so you should honor that and ensure they are paid.It was unethical of you to approach the buyer and try to cut out the agent, and it is definitely unethical of the seller, which makes me question whether the seller is someone you want to deal with. 

Get help from Fund & Grow after paying them $3000 in procuring funding to buy one of Morris Invest's Turn-key new construction 3 bdrm, 2 bath homes for $68500 plus closing.