This short form is called a “soft commit”.After that we will send you some paperwork to sign.

(you guessed it, i never said i will pay him money for estimates)I never signed ANY sort of contracts/paperwork .

The paperwork is a bit lighter, but they still need a good FICO and reserves. 

Hire an attorney and they can walk you through the paperwork and closing process.

Make sure you have all the necessary paperwork to bring to court.

Can we get paperwork from the local title company if needed?

(Which is a full rehab on a single family home) and said it has a ton of paperwork & extra fees, I hear it’s rare to find lenders & contractors who are knowledgeable of 203k. 

Anyone know if it is merely paperwork for the city to issue the CO from this point after passing all the inspections? 

Unfortunately my plan provider does not help with any of these like rollover / 1099R / on-going paperwork , they just set up the plan and give me the initial documents and I am pretty much on my own after that.

While it may suck as it seems like they are literally doing nothing for the sale itself, have them 'earn' that commission and get them draw up the paperwork and handle the sale, the same as a regular agent would.