Your situation is one of the most common topics posted by hobby landlords.

I understand that I would get penalizes 10%, and I would have to pay tax on the money as extra income, but if I find a real estate investment that has a return of 8-9%, I can have the 10% penalty paid back to me on the first year of owning the property and then I can utilize the future returns right away rather then waiting till I'm 62 with 401K. 

.($6500 deprecations on ¾ of a 225,000) +($2200 in property taxes. utilities and repairs) +($1000 in depreciation of furniture/TV/Appliances) +($2000 in mortgage interest) ($2500 state and local taxes.)That only equals $14,200, it’s hard to justify taking that over the standard deduction of $12,000 especially because I’ll have to pay back my deprecation eventually (I plan to do 1031 probably, but still ill have to pay it in the future).4.

I was able to find three tenants and no problems with turning on their electricity within Lake Worth Utilities.

Asking rent is $2550 + utilities, first last security deposit is $7650 (which both strike me as a ton of money and beyond what I'd comfortably choose to afford, but this area is kinda going nuts).Last night, the most recent prospective tenant (single mom and high school daughter) said she would sign a 2-year lease and have the cash to me before Monday.The other competing tenant (family of 4) is actually former tenants. 

Best of luck, definitely not a common situation.

If you plan to remove this garage kitchen, I would consider keeping the sink for use as a utility sink.

Is there a simple Finder's Fee template which contains enough protection to handle these common transactions?

Is it possible to suspend the depriciation clock on a SFH utilized as a rental.

I don't know why you're having a difficult time finding a bank to do a refinance for your investments.This is a very common and typical practice so I would suggest calling a few more banks or credit unions.