You can evaluate whether this is a scam by independently researching the landlord and determining if the company exists and you're being asked to follow their usual application process.

I was already trying to chart a course towards financial independence, but this year moved me up a solid 5 years at least. 

On high level my “why” is to achieve financial independence.

I started as a brand new agent w/EXP in December and chose to be independent.

Having been a RE agent was what gave me the education and contacts to become independent. 

I would expect your Broker to break down responsibilities in your Independent Contractor agreement, but not everyone is that professional.If you're paying a 50/50 split, I would say the Broker should be paying that cost, along with the cost of signs and a few other things.

So long as you are comparing apples to apples here you're good, but I wanted to tidy up this verbiage.There will likely be two issues associated with the lot split:UtilitiesThe ParcelOnce you get all the utilities split to have separate services and the parcel split into two independent half-duplex parcels then you would be able to sell one of the them.   

And it was Texas independence day.

Thanks for the info @Stephen Brown, here are some maps of good areas to invest in, depending on your strategy.

Independent inspector?