Eventually we agreed to the final sale price.

Thank you, Judy.The first step to exiting or getting out of the rat race eventually is to change the mindset and actually own income-producing assets.My first thought reading the OP was 'Sounds like a motivated seller. 

Double-close is also more costly, as mentioned, and the seller will still see how much you made eventually as the sales numbers will be public in a month or two after closing.

The plan is to eventually leave the W2 job once the business grows to enough profitability.I understand that CapEx, startup costs and other expenses can pass through to my ordinary salaried income.I'm not sure about depreciation, however - there are large amounts of this in a RE business as you folks probably know, and it'd be good to be able to offset my salaried wages with this, if possible.Would we be able to pass through depreciation deductions to our ordinary income as well?

I am a capable person and think I could eventually make as much money as I do now, but it might take a few years of getting contacts and what if the market turns in that time?

But if you don’t meet the qualifications of any of their lenders your deal will eventually fall apart due to requirements they demand that you can’t meet.  

Eventually I would love to have this be my full time gig.

Maybe you will eventually get them out without owing.

Then of course the agent eventually figures it out and poof we get a thread on BP with an investor trashing lazy agents.........It's a vicious cycle man.

Eventually with more experience and more risk tolerance you'll be able to get a close-enough estimate to enter negotiations, then bring the contractor in either during due diligence or if negotiations get tight enough that you need to bust out the scalpel.