My realtor who also owns rental properties will work for me for tenant procurement, but I am still looking for good references of local handymen & contractors. 

I wouldn't be surprised if real estate "consultants" remained -- people paid on an hourly basis to help with transactional details and paperwork -- and I wouldn't be surprised if real estate attorneys took a more prominent role in the complicated transactions, but I don't think the value of real estate agents is there.Ultimately, agents do the following:- Help procure buyers for sellers and help procure housing prospects for buyers;- Help with negotiation;- Fill out forms and deal with procedural details of the transaction;- Coordinate closings.The first bullet above is by-far the most important, and eventually the Internet will provide the ability for buyers and sellers to find each other without a middleman.All that said, real estate agents have a very strong lobby, so they probably won't go away as quickly as they should.And full disclosure, I'm a licensed agent.

Has anyone set up a partnership that raises money with a real estate broker where there was a conflict of interest about how to price investor money to procure property?

They may even be able to help you procure counter parties for properties too.They are in the business of real estate just like you.

Also with only 3 units, you might want to check with a local lender, in the future it might be difficult for the buyers to procure financing to take out the seller held note.

You would have no way of knowing this loan was being procured to pay the taxes until it is too late.

I'd really like to buy multiple homes on the same block so that I could control the neighborhood.What would be the most effective method for procuring these homes???

Especially when holding & procurement are factored in..

Procuring The Contract - I have researched multiple ways to "procure the contract" on the property; Double Closing, Assignments, and LLCs.

Virtually everyone I know uses debt to procure commercial real estate product.