Wording in Mo. law is "facilitating a sale" that can be a wide swath of activities and will be defined by the RE Commission.

If you are looking to convert the property later,  consider delaying any major outlay until the scope of that conversion is defined.  

Is there anything here that may be defined as illegal practice?

The more you define your goals, the most "vehicles" this me membership can advise to help you succeed.

I also have 2 buy-and-hold rentals, and I've pretty much decided that I will  focus in a relatively defined area about 10 minutes from where I live (Decatur), since I'm going to be managing them myself for the forseeable future. 

So this is my process*Define my area- I buy in "very specific areas" based on age, school districts, locations, etc.

I define A as highly desirable or lots of amenities. 

Every time I try to define my search more, like adding in any price ranges or other filters, the number automatically jumps down to 0 in my area, no matter what filters I choose.

Yeah agree.But the question becomes, what defines a slumlord to the people dealing out code violations.Is having working galvanized plumbing in a house going to be a code violation? 

I would define your parameters more specifically and tell him he doesn't meet them!