There is no way everyone will leave at once barring natural disaster.

I called every place I could think of and naturally they are all booked out a month away.

We may convert the furnace to natural gas from oil.

I remember a day when you'd call for support of this nature and asked for payments over $100...big reason I taught myself all this crud about computers I know.  

For this reason, I strongly recommend you keep a stable of lenders on a short list since some properties will be more suitable for some lenders than to others.After a while, you'll naturally gravitate to some lenders more than others.

With your opening statements you are hoping to supplement your agents lack of knowledge - which is fine if you have the experience to do this and you are only using your agent to write offers etc. 

Don't forget to take some action in supplement of gaining the education in Real Estate!

It's not a natural skill for me, but I've had to learn to do it well over thousands of business contracts and other sales negotiations.I'd sit down with him and talk about each of your goals, and simply tell him that you'd like to live in the home, but understand he's making you a good offer.

Short term I just am looking to supplement my income.  

So, my first actions, as an investor newbie, are naturally to look for systems and tools that will make me efficient, accurate and timely in the execution of each of the many process steps between lead generation and cashing the buyers check.