So, the real estate broker/agent would have to inform the seller of the fair market value of their home, making it much more difficult to earn a profit larger than what a real estate commission would be.  

A minor hurdle for some, but a larger issue to some as well.With DSCR or private money lending, yes, you can still also vest in your individual names, but you will find many lenders will NOT allow it or will actually charge you higher rates to do so. 

Feel free to inquire about their staff qualifications if it's a larger organization.2.

All of my investing has been in re-development and I’m looking to learn the flipping business for income.I can see the process and opportunities for properties worth flipping, but I’m trying to see the way to build a business around flipping for income while I work on larger re-development opportunities.where have you learned financing and operations?

And I suspect the other larger players in CA had the same arrangements we did. 

Based on the value of a property you can likely get away with a inexpensive desk top study such as condos and you will require a more comprehensive engineering study for larger properties like a 4plex.Desktop / modeling options are sometimes good for smaller residential like you mention. 

This reserve amount represents roughly 2–3 years of projected repair costs, which might be a conservative approach, but it gives us a buffer for unexpected, high cost repairs when they pop up.With a larger portfolio, the reserve pool wouldn’t need to grow proportionally, as funds and repairs can be balanced across properties, allowing costs to offset each other over time.

There are instances where added depreciation expense will not result in a larger refund.

In larger volume, you can get better return.  

So, had we put something down, we could have gotten a larger return from rent.