By having the parents act as the "bank", they should be shielded from liability and could foreclose on the property if the situation dictates. 

Answers to those first two questions may dictate which area of real estate that you choose to start with.

I've come to terms with the fact that my situation dictates I run a few flips to build starting capital using hard money. 

Account Closed Do not let others' opinions dictate when you start investing.  

Sure you may find an off market buyer in the end but you had better remember me or that is our last conversation.Bottom line, requirements for agency agreements are dictated by state law but there is no requirement in any state I am aware of that the agreement be exclusive in all situations.

This will likely depend on your state law, but you should be safe to use the date tenant turns over possession of unit as the beginning of your countdown. from there state law will dictate how long you have. usually its 30 days.

Which unless you a drug dealer, dictator, or pop star that is a huge amount of over kill.

They usually limit the amount of non family members in one home, highly regulate visitors and length of visit, then after all that they can dictate who you can sell the home to when you want to exit.

Don't just use numbers to dictate where to invest, even though financials are important, the macro picture is often just as important when it comes to investing in a town.

They provide an easy to read credit, criminal, eviction history breakdown that is easy for us to breakdown for our clients.Keep in mind though there may be local or state laws that dictate what you can and can't ask for on an application.