You also can’t 1031.Best way to minimize taxes is an S Corp. 

He may not need a real estate agent at all if he finds a good settlement agent/attorney who will draw up the contract for him, and speak to a good accountant first to get tax advice before selling the property, or at least ask some accountants on here if there are things he should watch out for tax-wise when selling a property that he purchased through a 1031 as there may be specific steps to follow or terms involved to minimize taxes. 

A lot of minimally successful people think not honoring their word is the way to make it in business.

Factor in the market in 2 years, and any other opportunity to maximize income and minimize expenses.

In my experience, the commission on rentals for realtors isn't that much so the amount of work they do after getting the listing is pretty minimal. 

So the smart thing to do is always have a nest egg for times of vacancies or unexpected repairs/expenses.The overarching point about this is that you want minimal vacancy.

Have you minimized your expenses and maximized your savings towards getting enough for a down payment.  

Because the loans are not held in the originators balance sheet post closing, risk for the lender is minimized and because of that you get attractive terms such as long loan term (10  years), leverage as high as 75%, fixed rate, non recourse financing and CMBS lenders are also open to cash out refinances and lending in secondary and tertiary market .

Beyond that I know a minimal amount of information pertaining to how these list function and can be used.

So the exposure to the broker would be minimal, at least that is my interpretation.