I have no development experience however have a large portfolio of homes in the Charlotte suburbs which are solid performing assets and have done extensive rehab's on many properties from basic new kitchen/ba reno's to full structural/electrical/plumbing renovations. 

Do you typically find the listing agent helps you negotiate more when they will get both sides of a commission or that having someone solely represent your interests gives you better leverage when you make an offer?

Our sister company Palmetto REsolutions performs turn over, renovation, and maintenance work on the properties we manage and buy/sell.

My Roth IRA my 401(k) and about everything else performs better then my primary residence

There was plenty of meat on the bone so we made it happen. so far it has proven to be a great performing asset and we have plenty of equity in this red hot market!

For example, I like to use the performance metric of ROI and I think 3.69% is pretty weak.

If this is your first investment I would not recommend going through a wholesaler or an off market because like @Lucia Rushton mentioned you will not be properly represented in your transaction. 

The performance of the property is really more dependent on the skill of the management than the property itself.

@Robert BurnsAs long as Iv'e been researching probate leads I still use direct mail to this day ~ and follow up with a cold call later.You should concentrate for PR's (Personal Representative) that reside outside the state of LA (CA, WY, AK, etc.,) as the PR most likely will be motivated to sell.If the PR provide's a cell phone number yes, I'll usually send a text...

If a lender looks at your tax returns to determine past rental performance, then it all depends upon how your CPA recorded your maintenance expenses and utility expenses.