A Bidding situation can bring the price down, but when the market puts contractors in demand, it is reflected in their pricing.  

The problem is when i try to look him up by Jon F. as reflected on his profile I cant find him as an option to ignore.  

As for a reflection of your entire brokerage, that sounds a little strange to me.Saving 3% off the top is a huge savings let alone if you get their price down considerably as well. 

That is very low to consider a mortgage I think that is a far bigger problem than your age and will be reflected in your debt to income ratio (DTI).

As soon as her lease ends change it to reflect how you wish to be paid.

A cap rate reflects the ratio of price to NOI. 

Rent/value ratios only reflects demand.  

You best course of action is to get very familiar with the law - perhaps print it out and read it a few times, that's what I like to do, as it's usually written very poorly and takes a few re-reads to understand - and then review any of your off-the-shelf contracts for clauses that are not legal, and re-write your agreements to reflect that. 

The legal fees don't reflect  refund that we got from the city of about $500.

The difference has been very minimal, but I think it will more accurately reflect changes in costs over time.Mark, its great to hear from someone in that area who has already been investing!