Would they see it as a sale or would it just be independent because I'm just transferring a contract?

I've tried several agents over the years.Also, I only hire independent contractors.  

I have aspirations to achieve financial independence through REI and all of my Google searches for educational info seem to ultimately lead me to BiggerPockets.com.

Now that I will be "self-employed" or an "independent contractor", will this hurt my chances of investing in another property?

You don't give them directions on what to do at any given time, you give them a scope and they do what they want with that, if you tell them to get materials from here and install it there, that does is already an employee and not independent contractor.

I'm not sure how many you'd get to successfully as I believe most trusts are typically managed by an independent party that may or may not forward on your mailer to any of the members.

So I enrolled in an online course and studied independently at work and at home, and began striving to read one book per week.

Known items like separate metering and commercial loan terms should be addressed ahead of time, not after going under contract.In the end, I would recommend being unemotional and making the decision on whether or not this is a wise investment independent of the agent's feelings and then just learn from the experience to know how to handle it differently on the next one.  

I had just found my new position as a research scientist at Scandinavia's largest independent research organization, SINTEF, and I would soon be in the position to buy a car in cash.

If contractors have been vetted and independent inspections are happening, then the risk becomes much lower.