If you had inherited it, the cost basis would have stepped up so you would not have had capital gains.I think you get the first $250K of profits tax free through a homeowner's exclusion, but you would pay tax on the rest of the profit.

This is split use property and may qualify for both the Section 121 Exclusion ($250,000) and the Section 1031 Exchange. 

Live in the condo until my girlfriend and I can find another property (preferably two units, one of which we can rent out) , make some minor updates and sell the property within three years of moving in order to take advantage of exclusion of tax on capital gains for a primary residence.

Buyer's Agreements are normal, to ensure that you pay him for the transaction he helps you with... but 14 months and exclusivity to all transactions? 

However, we have a rehab loan thatis exclusive to us where we will lend you up to 80% of the completed value.Meaning, if you find a house for sale for $30k, but the appraiser says whenyou do the repairs you say you are going to do the house is going to beworth $80k, we will give you up to 80% of the $80k...which would be$64k...if you needed that much to do repairs onNow there are stipulations to that.

If you're not married to the idea of going after exclusively REO, you may find it easier to build relationships with agents in other parts of the distressed spectrum.

They work exclusively for their clients and they show up in the legals as the counsel for the lender........and they get literally hundreds of calls from homeowners, investors, relatives, etc trying to prevent the foreclosures.

These are mutually exclusive.  

I'm an investor my self and work almost exclusively with investors. 

Any realtor should be able to give you this access, since it involved limited work for them.I would advise not signing exclusive representation contracts with any realtor, however.