I'm new to the area and wanted to know any information about the area.

Rockaway Beach is a prime location for Oceanfront luxury property particularly STR's as actively licensed properties can obtain a new STR permit. 

I'll gladly accept any info on free leads as I'm still new to everything and I'm extremely eager to get started, thanks!

I suspect the 2nd floor addition of 2 BR and .5 Bath is unpermitted\.

I have already seen the new forms/addendums that will be used here in Arizona, the common one for this will be the Seller Compensation Addendum.The one thing that might happen in your discount buyer agent scenario is you might get a buyers agent who agrees to a lower commission and then the listing agent is offering a co-broke that is higher than he agreed to, well now that buyers agent will only be able to get paid the lower amount he agreed to and the listing agent will keep the remainder, so listing agents could end up getting paid more.As far as your question on what to pay an agent, I view it similarly to hiring an attorney, there are discount attorney's and they might be okay for some people in some circumstances, or if you know the proper procedures and deadlines then maybe you do it on your own without an attorney.

We needed a new queen mattress for a just in case situation.

I would like to know which banking institutions and type of accounts you are using for security deposits that comply with Florida law.I have heard to use an escrow account.  

The house was built in 1913, so I'd be very surprised if there were any new settling.

He also teaches a "niche" technique, using Lease Options, which is great for a investor that is new to the business.

Purchase properties using a TrustI already have a Revocable Trust setup but it includes my full name in the title of the trust, so this would defeat the purpose of staying anonymous.I could create a new trust with a random name, but I heard the "Trustees" section of the trust also get published to public records.