I would take a look at these types of resources and others as they will outline lenders that work with first-time home buyers and do a lot of volume in your area.

Unfortunately this will cause heartburn for the tenant and at some point you run the risk of them finding space elsewhere.Pay the fee as requested.

It may work on new construction depending on the volume and schedule.   

Plus, Brian’s comments are for his own state and his volume/contractor relationship - two factors that compose 80% of the price.

For 18%/month (due to volume), our PM does the following (and more):1 - Vets the new tenant2 - Handles all emergencies3 - Handles the rent collection4 - Handles collection5 - Handles evictions, including going to court if needed6 - Goes to court with us if we are the plaintif7 - Handles the building departments8 - Handles the CofO...and maintaining the CofO9 - Handles all repairs/rehab needed...this could include when the property is 1st purchased10 - Handles the transition (repairs, cleanup, followup, etc...) between tenants11 - Pays up front for CAPEX and other repair/rehab costs and we reimburse through the rents until they are whole12 - Keeps track of all of this online where we have total access.13 - Provides online access to tenant for communication, rent tracking, timelines of events, etc...that we also have access to.14 - Auto deposits cash flow into our account, and auto transfers rent from tennent's account.15 - ...and more...Your time should be spent analyzing, negotiating, finding properties, finding partners, finding more funding, managing rehab on flips, etc...

If I go that route, I'm not sure I can build the volume of properties as the down payments, even when split, will be very high. 

And have your financing lined up, or at least identified.If you're planning to wholesale and want your agent to blast out a high volume of offers that are significantly below market, pay them (through their broker) a separate fee for each offer.  

A freshly completed transaction is the single best data point an appraiser has to work with; especially right now with generally low transaction volumes in many markets.

In building my transaction volume and working with investors, I've struck up a JV partnership with a client who bought a flip with me as his agent.  

I probably would actually have a better chance of double ending if i listed on the MLS because a common practice for buyers these days is to call the listing agent directly and ask him to write up the offer.In addition, I work on a volume level for most my pocket listings.