The fine amounts are going to need to be written out in some locations and others allow the Board to set a "reasonable" fine.

We have a small team that does direct-to-seller cold calling here in Baltimore MD. 

They said they are not aware of this rule at all right now, and I asked them what they can expect.They told me they do expect a buyer's agency agreement, but it'd be within a house, or a set amount of houses for a fixed fee.

Ouch... 75% set up fee sounds really high.

The whole point of setting up my layered corporate structure was for asset protection, so I'd like to use it, if at all possible.

You set a reserve ( the least you will take ) House is sold AS IS , And the buyer pays all the fees . 

Would you say the best thing right now would to do a FHA loan, live in it for a year and then set up my LLC and out and out it up for rent and then from there continue to do it through the LLC?

Give yourself 5-10 years investing in RE and you’ll be set for life.

I like to start with the end state, i.e. exactly who I want to call/text me back, and then work backwards to figure out what parameters I need to set to get to those people.

Although each cell of a Series LLC can own distinct assets, incur separate liabilities, and have different managers and members, a Series LLC may be able to pay a single set of annual state fees and may be able to file one income tax return each year.