Find yourself a good Attorney and hope they can extricate you from the situation at a minimal cost. 

But, my rental agreement ends in the beginning of November and I don't want to put the stress on myself and my wife to find a du-, tri-, or fourplex to house-hack within less than 60 days as my first investment.  

One of those situations is when the tenant is over age 62 or disabled and has lived in the unit for more than 10 years.

Just wondering what the typical protocol is for this situation, and how the RE agent gets paid.Flat fee?

about 1 out of 10 or 20 will be in a situation where they are willing to entertain selling with LO Terms.

They left without me having to evict them or excessive drama, because they realized I was treating them fairly, even though their situation was a tough one. 

Do you think in my situation I should be looking more for a PML or a HML?

You don't need to pay 100% cash, but you may need to put down 30% or more depending on your situation.  

When the place flooded during hurricane sandy that was a nightmare situation that I could never have anticipated. 

Figure out which one fits your current situation the best and then start reading the blogs and forum posts and connecting with those on here who are doing them.