In that situation, would you just try to find someone trustworthy enough to give you a referral fee say, instead of a formal contract assignment and have them just write up the offer so you aren't tied to it?

What you would normally repair on one house, another house same repairs the owner flips out and cries you're spending their money.When we get tenants who get carried away with repair requests (like 1-2 a month is ridiculous IMO) we usually get on the phone with them, level with them and then tell them we can find a replacement in that apartment since they feel its so bad.

Additionally, find a realtor who can easily plug you in with their system and network of GCs, lenders, PMs, etc.

In case you are interested, I would be happy to help you with finding right properties, analyzing, managing, investing and more in exchange for your knowledge and experience sharing with me.

Best of luck finding a quadplex.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

In this post, I'll share some insights based on my findings and some data to showcase why this market is a great opportunity.

I always find it interesting how markets can differ so much! 

One of the biggest things I regret looking back on my career is not getting into multifamily sooner and thinking that I had to start in residential and then to slowly work up my unit count.

Find an agent that does quite a few per year if you can.Best of luck to you!