There are some potential pit falls with that plan (mainly there's a chance that 5% isn't enough to match the work involved w/ X number of doors.

Get involved and meet some people.

Like @Ryan Murdock mentioned, your best bet is to keep them paying you anything at all.

You bet @Neill Herbert there are some different things that folks use for costing.

Might as well get it done then.Your best bet is to refi your loans down, graduate, pickup a job that requires your major (so it’s hopefully secure, and you and your kid(s) can still live life okay), then proceed to spend your extra time finding work that you truly enjoy (the earlier the better).

Does anybody have experience doing this and can give us an estimate for the costs and headaches involved?

I'm just wondering if the process functions any different on our end with our realtor since we are communicating/negotiating directly with the sellers on price (how involved does our Realtor get when they are selling it FSBO?)

involved that we would owe our realtor compared to a normal real estate transaction?

I have been involved in the Buffalo Real Estate market since 2011. 

If you work direct with the sellers agent, it will be less commission expense than if your agent is involved.