When I say legit I mean he is in it full time with a staff, advertising campaign, etc and "doing the business" not a up start wanna be.

If the bank has it for $1.5 million, I don't see how they could unload it for just $400K, meth lab or not.Oh, and you should probably get some other opinions on how much it will cost to fix it.

He has a good sized staff, works with investors from all over the world, and understands real estate investing. 

In the current market, big apartment buildings are not paying real estate agents any commission to rent the apartment because they are also having long wait lists and they have their own full time and part time paid staff.

Or would I need to directly hire staff as permanent employees?

But I was also having drinks within the last week with a congressional chief of staff who himself was having a hard time with predicting the consequences of the bill. 

It may be one office that handles your determined area or like in my case their are 11 different authorities (1 for every cities and town in my radius).Once you go meet these people and see their office and staff (the women in the office) you build a rapport with them, for the purpose of getting leads.Also, cities and towns vary in where and how they sell their liens.

I looked for a broker who allows me flexibility on charging commissions, no additional admin fee charged to my clients, no required office hours, good access to broker and office staff when I do have questions, and yearly fees/commission are reasonable.

Staff to care for your guests, including your mom.

I've seen moms & pop owners that have a staff of two guys at $50,000 per year servicing 20 POHs that only net $12,000 per year in net income.