There are many pros, but two cons that seem most prominent in my mind of the bat: 1) getting a license doesn't make you an expert out of the gate, even with MLS - an experienced real estate agent can guide you into an emerging market that you might not know about vs. an obvious, saturated market, for example, or explain why a comp only .2 miles away is actually no good for your prospective purchase, among other things 2) if any litigation were to arise in your r.e. business, having a license will almost undoubtedly mean you are held to a higher standard, probably with respect to any aspect of the deal. 

I am a little nervous tieing up so much capital into the assets as commercial loans generally have much higher standards for down payments and experience of the investor.

That was Notice to the previous owner that was foreclosed on and has no bearing moving forward No you will not have any advantage as this is standard procedure.

Do you have any standard contingencies you would put with the offer when dealing with Homepath?

I think 1 - 3 years is pretty standard.

Is this a standard fee?

So far I'm using the standard CAA lease. 

May be more than I could do cheaply even to get it to rental standards.

If the borrower will have one to six financed properties, Fannie Mae’s standard eligibility policies apply (for example, LTV ratios and minimum credit scores).

So, ever institution has a very rigid set of criteria, some of which is driven by Fannie Mae and some driven by their own internal standards.