A lot of new agents who are looking for training and guidance tend to land at some of the bigger brokerages like Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams, Braid & warner, etc.However, if you have a pretty good handle on being an agent you can find a smaller brokerage that is more personable. 

If it interrupts and/or takes away from your primary business model then it makes sense to have an agent who takes this off your plate and handles this so you can focus on your prime money making activities.

State level moratoriums would be handled at state level courts. 

People don't like change, sounds like the neighbor feels entitled to "how things were", I think you handled it pretty well personally. 

I have used property managers in other areas, but they handled everything as well as their 10% monthly cut.

He retired at age 60, mortgage free, and with commercial tenants, tenants handle utility and repairs.

You will sacrifice some cash flow, but it will be a lot easier to handle and still produces solid cash flow and you only need to deal with turnover every few months (hopefully). 

Ironically, most books don’t advise on how to handle the challenges because that likely doesn’t sell as many copies of the ‘feel good’ variety but good information and how people figured out the challenges is out there if you look hard enough.  

Has anyone found any creative ways to handle closing costs if 1) you do not have the money to cover it or 2) do not want to come out of pocket to handle these costs associated with the transaction?

I had some investment properties several years ago that also handled all of the property management myself.