Questions:-should I stay away from investing in a town home due the common risks (smaller buyer pool, potential HOA issues, large competition etc)?

The fees for a Buyer's agent are paid by the seller, not by you.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, it's land-locked behind another property, so I don't even know if any buyers would even have access.

In our area, 3% deposit will immediately go to Escrow, preapproval from local major lender is carefully contacted with verbal confirmation that the buyer stands out. 

The websites are built and I have a small cash buyers list built ( not sure how good yet ) but, I don't want to waste money on advertising that's not going to work or buying some software that won't do me any good.

I also don't tie my investor buyers into an exclusive buyers agreement mainly due to this sort of second market. 

I sold a property and gave the buyer a deed.

I know sometimes the seller and buyer kind of splits the closing costs, but Does that 3% account for just my half or all of the closing costs (even seller costs).Because I plan on including multiple offers in my offer letter and one includes that I will pay for all closing costs.. is that already assumed that I should or usually how does it work, splitting the closing costs?

Plus the same platform can put you in front of BUYERS before your competition even knows they exist, poach clients from THEIR open houses, put you in front of people who visit websites like Trulia, Zillow, Realtor, etc.

Doing things in the right order matters as in most rental markets it would be harder to get good investment returns for example on refinishing hard wood floors for a rental... buyers appreciate/expect refinished floors more than the typical renter... you also would not want to have 5 years of wear on refinished floors to then put it up for sale.Do all that and in 5 years you can still decide to keep it you will likely have massively increased the appraisal value, do a COR and fund your next deal.