Wholesaling is a good place to start because it gives you much knowledge and practice you need and it typically does not cost much to get into.  

Is this normal practice?

You'll want your money working for you, while practically speaking you probably won't be able to put ALL of your money to work at ALL times, when you have a good plan your money will be working for you most of the time.

I would absolutely find a more local mortgage broker/lender that is familiar with SC real estate practices and has a network of other professionals to aide them.

I just did one with incfile.com and it was less than $100 on top of the state filing fees, but the operating agreement that came with it is incredibly broad and vague, and I imagine would in practice be of minimal use in the case of a serious disagreement among members.

However, practically this this would never happen in the sub $150k price range. 

I recently moved to Oregon from Austin, TX-- it is way too hot to do anything practically all day due to heat exhaustion.  

I would only install stone (granite, cultured, or otherwise) in a higher-end rental or if I found usable seconds at an extraordinary price)As for layout, what is on the wall to the left of the photo?

First because you are miles away from the target property, sellers will ask more than property value.You can't run out to look at the deal - too far and not practical. 

On a practical level, if you're too low any realtor will tell the seller how much more they could get individually.