Playing devils advocate a bit here but it could be the sellers instructions and not the agents.  

They hold IRA funds and process all IRA transactions for the benefit of the IRA at your instruction.  

This house has been rented for 2 years already, just now setting up an LLC for Debt Ratio and Taxes.. as far as numerous things I read and seminars instructed... but they wanted money .

Richmond is a "hidden gem" and you'd have to really want to move there to find it, where as the casual home buyer will skip over it.

I am just lost on where to start or where I can find those "good" hidden deals.

this area is very very active, new construction going up everywhere,  recent article stated a 18.00 per hour wage minimum to rent, average rentals are 1100 plus for small places, big university nearby,  basically no such thing as a rehab for a steal,, area just so active, professionals are closely tuned in on "deals"  the area is small compared to big cities so hidden "gems" are more exposed to realtor investors with similarly interested investors.... 

The drop ceiling would have hidden the coffee can with only the trim piece being visible thus it would have easily passed for a legit fixture at a casual glance.Obviously this would not pass a rough-in electrical inspection for many reasons the main one being that a coffee can is not UL Listed for that particular use so I am not in any way recommending re-creating this no matter how tight your budget is lol.

From the pictures, the property looks like it's in decent condition, but a good pro-inspection should let you know if there are any major hidden problems.

I say shot from the hip because the process/form instructions aren't always clear. 

Before I start, I have not figured out how to @ (mention) someone, I'll take some instruction for that part as well...Thank you Chris for the suggestions on finding contractors.