Very glad this one worked out for you.You numbers also help me verify something I have been tossing around in my head, you being a broker/agent certainly sweetened this deal up for you - if you would have had to give up 3% on the acquisition and sale side, the margins would have been much tighter, and perhaps you may not have even pursued?  

I told him I could bank them, but I'm going to need a "sweetener" (loan fees, etc) of a couple of thou$and.It turns out that he has already signed an EM contract at his new place and plans on closing the end of May (school out).

Another route you could go is to find a seller who is willing to sell with owner financing, if needed to sweeten the pot a little you could even add one of the vacant lots as collateral or simply trade them one as a down payment (depending on the LTV you need to get).

I would like to sweeten the deal for my REALTOR but he is not allowed to accept it.

If you can find some little inexpensive way to sweeten your offer, to give a little concession, then do that.

May even sweeten this with a consult fee for anyone willing to step up and mentor me through this process.

It just sweetens them up, they will have it ready for you when you get there.

How can you sweeten an offer to make it more attractive to the seller, other than increasing the price?

I didn't have one, so I knew I needed to sweeten the deal - I signed a longer lease and paid 6 months at a time.

Or should I offer, a little more over the monthly debt service so he's making 1000 bucks extra just to sweeten the deal?