The other element that is affecting is the listing price.

I'm curious as to why the previous owner would have rents at 50% below market value, that seems to be extremely low and maybe he knew something about his tenants' financial abilities to pay/not pay.

I have been doing a lot of research on investing (primarily into buy and hold rentals) and the one thing that seems the most unclear is the ability to scale up property acquisitions with obtaining more financing/mortgages.

The mortgage contingency is different: it's about you - and your ability to secure financing. 

Agreeing with @Shawn McCormick, you can represent yourself in transactions and put the buy side commission back into your deals to save you money while having the ability to list properties yourself when you sell.

Waiting for the title to season really hindered my ability to scale my real estate business.

Unfortunately, raising money in a hurry is problematic.Potential investors don’t really know your track record or abilities, and it takes time to build a relationship with them.

I don't have the ability for about 2 months to actually start, so I'm just gathering as much knowledge as I can.

There are better markets than Atlanta but none that are so much better that it's worth the extra elements out of state investing will involve.The best way to find deals is to build relationships with investor focused agents, get on every wholesalers list you can and unsubcribe the crappy ones.

@Michael Craig as this being a non owner occupied property, if starting with refinancing first, doesn't this mean the bank will look into his personal ability to repay the loan?