It can change your life.

Life has been pretty tough but its ok because nobody said it was going to be easy.

@Charlie ClaxtonHave you looked at agency debt (Fannie, Freddie), life insurance, or CMBS for long-term debt after the property is stabilized (need 90% occupancy for 90 days for Fannie)?  

The down side is you are living in a renovation for an extended period of time and if you are doing a lot of the work yourself to maximize profit, the trade off is your personal life.

But I suspect that you are objecting to things that are SOP in commercial leases.Before my life in RE I spent 20+ years dealing with office leases as a tenant.

For them it typically is about bringing something old back to life and recreating what life would have looked like back then etc.      

Typically it doesn't work out financially and it only has about a 7-15 year life.

On a $50,000 home, the $1500 I would take in commission is not meaningful to my life, if the agent is bringing me a deal that I will make $10k to $15k.  

I enjoyed your post for the worthy goals you describe, and humorously in the way you refer to your "age".Let's start with the latter, perhaps my perception is skewed but at 55 I'm of the opinion you've just enter a life phase where you can do so much, experience great things, and create great wealth while in the process.My 93 year old grandfather to me recently "I know I've got at least 10 years, but if I could just get another 20".

Life is good.