This should all be included in closing documents..Owner give you copy of lease, addendums,  the amount of security deposit plus interest is paid to you within the closing fee's.. any rent is prorated to day of closing and is factored in closing fee's.  

3) With me being a realtor, I can list the property at a discount rate (still have to pay the brokerage a little fee) and we save about 12K in listing fees (still have to pay the buyers agent, unless I sell it personally). 4) Should we try to get the hard money, or should we be looking for a cash investor that might see a benefit of not having to pay capital gains taxes or listing agent fees, and partner with us?

I also said, that I probably will save him 2 or 3 times that fee in my negotiations with the seller.

(insurance, property tax, HOA fees, maintenance expense, % vacancy, capital reserve, management fee (if any)?

Could always have it removed, then charge them fees to do it in the meantime...of course getting those hauling fees reimbursed is another story entirely

In my area, application fees are pretty non existent, therefore I do not have the need to collect.

Where would you recommend parking the down payment and fees for it?

That is not what he was saying, but if you have some lenders on line that are in your state, send them a spec sheet of your proposed investment and see what they can offer, what terms, what rates, what fees, etc.Building a private money investor network is also key.

Smaller brokers are likely to have more flexible terms, lower fees, and might be able to give you a better commission split.

I have great loan guy in the Columbus market that does nationwide loans and can do loans for homes low as $20,000 sales price and doesn't add junk fee's or hike up the rates because it's a low sales price.