You are allowing a former tenant to do what you want.

Is it allowable for an unlicensed “property finder” (unconnected to any brokerage) to charge tenants large commissions to find them luxury homes to rent? 

Duplex is a great first step into the REI market if you can buy one that you can put in a little TLC/renovations, you can quickly refinance in as little as 6 months and buy another property keeping it as a rental.Duplex allows you to use the other "Unit" rents to qualify for the loan or higher loan amount.Rent is a waste of money when you look at an amortization schedule and payoff based on a 5 year model your rental has (ZERO) equity and a home has money you can pull out.

@Dominique GuinnaneA buydown could make sense for buyers if it allows them to get a mortgage without significantly increasing the purchase price of the home or draining their cash reserves.

There are some lenders that can allow these hard money without experience or without having you as the guarantor (but requires you to be in the deal).

The real question is why were you allowing a dog like that to destroy someone elses property ?

I'm looking for an investment strategy that should make at least a ~10% CAGR on my equity (to compensate me for the extra effort of not sticking to my current low-maintenance investment strategy), and that would allow me to invest at least $100k per year.

I gave my opinion which I am allowed to do.

@Nick KnoblachOf course, you should always confirm with your own CPA who is familiar with your situation, but here's a few generalities:- CA taxes residents on worldwide income, so the CA resident will likely be taxed on the entirety of income that he/she receives on his/her CA resident tax return, including his/her share of rental income- CA will likely want to collect tax on all income earned in CA due to CA-sitused real property, so any non-residents in CA should likely be prepared to file a non-resident income tax return in CA to report his/her share of income earned from the CA real property-I'm not familiar with MN rules, but most states generally allow for a credit for taxes paid to another state. 

We were allowed in one of the three units prior to being under contract.