If not then where do we start to get our foot in the door. 

A small amount of movement in the rail of a screw-drive garage door opener can be normal, as it’s designed with some flexibility to handle the door's movement.

Until I get my footing and confidence in the whole deal.

Carpets in bedrooms are okay since there will be less foot traffic with shoes on in those rooms.

Is this how it's normally done for off-market deals? 

And if you want to be in real estate, while I normally don't tell people they should get their license to be an investor, if you are a good marketer and networker, getting a license can be a good way to pocket some extra money on weekends and evenings, while learning a thing or two about real estate.  

@Blaine Alger   Do you feel like now with WFH, there is more demand from people that might normally work in Austin or Dallas that want to live in Waco for better pricing and smaller city feel?  

One foot in residential and the other in CRE. 

You can usually get this for the project's life then switch back to renters/normal if needed.

I was double that and so was Holt homes.. some of the one off builders were still at 2% or 2.5%  and it varied with how hot the market was the commish was moving all over the place.. the transaction I am talking about the broker had their client low ball us and ask for about 200k in upgrades PLUS double our normal commish rate..