Not much difference in rate, so typically best to include the reno. 

If you are looking for some good meetups I would say NCREIA has some pretty good ones but there are also smaller meetups like the TREIA meetups they typically have every Wednesday, one of my good friends hold a deal exchange every two weeks on thursday.

Written Buyer Broker Agreements: Agents working with buyers will need signed agreements prior to home showings, which should clearly define the services and compensation.

Even with stocks, there is "full service" where you call a broker to sell the stock for you instead of selling it yourself through a platform.

Or, is there other typical arrangement when you work with realtors under this mode.

Trying to time the market typically leads to .

VC firms typically do not do real estate, maybe a family office but that relationship takes a good amount of time to build and as you mentioned they will want to see experience.This is a hard question, but I ask them - what are you bringing to the table?

Worst case scenarios are like you pointed out, or there is a disagreement of the contract and you friend backs out.When you are renting it out, typically the owner (your friend) is responsible for taxes and insurance. 

@Kiran Reddy no offense, but you're making a typical OOS investor mistake about the Detroit market!

If they are doing boots on the ground work for all of their clients they won't have time to provide their key services.