They literally screwed hallway doors shut to section off a couple portions of the home to call them apartments.

Check the shut off valves in the house and in the yard to make sure they are open.

I know what your talking about when you say credit got shut down because even though we had perfect credit, I couldn't get a loan to refi anything for about 4 years because of the tightening of lending. 

Even if you were to try to cut the seller's agent out and work directly with the seller, that same X% is still due - and you could be sued by the agent's brokerage for tortious interference in a contractual relationship.Those who think that a real estate agent is just someone with a pulse and lockbox access are the kind of people who would superglue their own scalp laceration shut.

It has a 22 room hotel attached and then there is also a restaurant that is across the street.

If government shuts down, will we get paid? 

Yes it was introduced as another bill that was shut down by Realtor Lobbyist and then they slipped several of the previously proposed items into SB 151 last minute and it was passed.

I live in CA too but in Oakland in an area that is safe from PG&E shut offs (urban, no wildfire danger, near BART, close to Alameda).

Having a very transparent and accessible way to make complaints about restaurants has really changed local restaurants and their attention to their establishment's cleanliness, food quality and customer service.

If you give people too much to consider they will usually shut down and keep doing what they already know.