I do believe sellers do not always respond well to real estate agents, if only because they quickly assume a 6% cost...but often from prior experiences. 100% commission jobs are often cutthroat.

My goal is to reach financial freedom within the next 5 years.

I found a lot with a SFH home on it, but its been zoned for a Multi-Family.How could I execute a purchase, tear-down, build.I want to purchase the house for say $150K cashtear-down the propertybuild a new duplex(MF)refi into a VA Loan.FYI my goal is to use my VA Loan at whatever stage of the process to best minimize my cash outlays.The tear down in Question is in Troy, MI in the Athens High School boundaries

My long term goal is to reach financial freedom by building a buy and hold portfolio that consist of single/multi family houses.       

My main goal right now is to absorb as much information as I can while I'm still in school so that post-graduation I will be in a solid position to begin investing.

Then fine tune your research of each stage to reflect what your current comfort level is and what your goal is.

Prior to meeting with the seller I did as much research as possible about the property.

With that being said, it is not impossible to get a good deal still on a property that will cash flow, if that is what your goal is.  

I recently found my first deal through the marketplace and one of the guys I had talked with on the phone prior (thanks Jorge).

He or she could have very different long-term investment goals as well.