He offered to give us the 2% buyer agent fee toward our closing costs if we don’t use a realtor.

In fact, an agent can get you into on market properties and when you write an offer, the rest can easily be handled by a title company / real estate attorney (depending on your area) all the way to closing. 

I've noticed a concerning trend: every time I generously offer valuable insights and knowledge, someone else swoops in offering the same information but with a price tag attached.

We beat out 5 other offers and paid over asking price.

This is a great place to learn and to connect with people so take advantage of all the great resources.

You think any publishing resource is going to want to find that out too, let alone share it or post it?

Kinda dumb of him to not offer this to you up front....

I would need to offer $70k to make the deal work.Do you do fix and flip in Columbus?

I'm still buying in Detroit and closing on a duplex here shortly.Happy to talk more about my experience/journey/etc. and shoot you some resources if you want to send me a DM.

I'd love to hear any tips you might have for someone who's just getting started.I appreciate your time and any advice you can offer.