@Joey Palmer the pictures are great, but I'd bet a lot of money that you only lasted 18 hours because of the impeccable design choices you guys made!

But for contracts an attorney is probably a safer bet anyway.Ask the seller which title company/attorney they are dealing with, and contact that company/attorney directly about depositing your earnest money.

I bet you won't buy anything 30 years from now for the same price it is today.  

I'd like to fix and flip as well as buy and hold, but being so green, I don't honestly know what direction is my best bet nor what works best for my area. 

I suspect they ratified the contract so commish is owed.I bet this just blows over its a small claims matter most likely anyways.. but one can sue for performance I did that last year and won.. my first ever but there was substantial dollars involved.I put up over 30k to pay back tax's and the seller would not sell.. so I sued for performance and won.Now I had to on the date of closing put all my cash into escrow 100% of purchase price and it was a tidy sum.. and it sat there for 18 months while we went through the court process.. the Judge gave the seller every opportunity to defend but she just went completely dark and lived there 2 years for free. but I know thats an extreme deal and most folks ( buyers will not go to this level) and or have the ability to do that since they need a loan to buy.. but there is a lot of cash out there so we can't make that assumption that the buyer does not have cash to come to closing on the close date and make a demand.  

your best bet may be short term rentals via the airbnb channel is possible.

No matter if you do 20 or 30 year, I bet you can do better than 4.5%.What about house electric, like hallway lights?

Bet better photos would pay for themselves in a flash!

Ya you're best bet would definitely be house hacking.

Your best bet is to find a local meet up, find a successful flipper that does what you want to do and ask them for a job or to help them for free to learn the ropes.