2) If using an agent, is their commission paid out of the private money or is that separately paid by the buyer?

That would often lead to me closing a deal and splitting commissions with listing brokers who were glad to have me as an ally.

If I'm looking to buy something I look daily and make offers on everything I think might work.Its really annoying when a wholesaler actually offers it to me above the listing price...ugh.If you want to do it that way, just get a realtor license and present those deals for the commission. 

I'm only a bit older than you at 22, and what I decided to do was to pursue a "job," in the real estate industry so I could learn as I built capital to invest.Now there is a give and take in doing this, most positions in real estate are 100% commission, which means you may have to wait (or keep your part-time job on the side while working around the clock) before seeing a pay day starting out.For example, I've been working full time for 6 months and have 9 properties under contract but they're all in shortsale process, so I've not made any money yet.

I attend school at UC Santa Barbara, and I'm currently working with the local SB REIA founder.If you find investors to joint venture on his properties, he'll give you $500 commissions, which is great!

Sean - You're missing some numbers in there...Don't forget to account for cost of money, taxes, insurance, utilities, agent commissions on the sell, and lawn care.

If you sell in 3-5 years you are going to have transaction costs (Realtor commissions, closing costs, fix up costs, etc..).  

Impossible to answer that as costs can vary dramatically depending on price points, area, and items you do or don't select to have.In CA, I typically experience approx 1.25% of sales price for closing costs on exit (not counting agent commissions which are 5%).On purchase, it will also depend on what you negotiate the seller today for, if you intend to flip, you should always choose to purchase a title binder to save title costs on exit.

That's their way of saying, "I WANT MY COMMISSION CHECK AND I DON'T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE DAY AFTER CLOSING!!!!"

These are members of an afiliate of the National Association of Realtors who work on a fee (non commission) basis, to help you evaluate commercial properties.Either way you can expect to spend alot of time and some money educating yourself in commercial investing.