Don't be too aggressive as you will need to pay $100/day for delays, even if it is not your fault (can't remember if it is Fannie, Freddy or HUD).Of course, you need to pay all U&O, both sides of the transfer fees, etc so plan for a slightly higher closing cost.HUD sometimes has better deals and pays for title insurance if you use their title company.

Link me to credible data besides some ABA blog claiming expenses increased to borrowers, what I read was pure political rhetoric from the break room in some bank.  . 

It is a little more in-depth than say something I would publish as a regular blog post and has lots of links to other data so you can connect deeper.  

I know transfer taxes are now generally paid by the buyer.

Thankfully I was able to convince the buyer to transfer his file to a local mortgage company that was able to get the loan commitment taken care of in 1 week and somehow we made it to closing after dealing with an irate listing agent and horrible experience with US Bank.  

Next time you can try to sell the LLC and its interest in the property after you close on it and then at least there is only 1 transfer of title rather then you buy, then you sell causing 2 transfers of title and technically the need for 2 smoke certs and 2 temp CO as you are now selling the property to a new buyer who has to sign off on the temp CO that they will complete the required repairs.  

We looked at some data showing real estate following the stock market by a couple years. 

And also think about book like The Millionaire Next Door that debunk myths about wealth in the US (a bit dated, but the book's data tells us someone like a landlord in the old pickup in overalls mowing the lawn at the duplexes may be your high net worth person in America; not the flashy professional investor guy in the high end luxury sedan with a Rolex).....

I'm pretty sure my data is wrong but I can't seem to figure what it is.

In fact, you’re so ‘new’ to investing that you actually send over $20,000 via wire transfer to person’s LLC… without a contract in place.Sounds like the beginning of another ‘newbie real estate horror’ story, right?