In Maryland/DC sellers pay the agents, half of the transfer and recordation taxes, and a few small fees for the lien releases.

Understand you will NOT be able to get conventional loans after you quit your job, at least until you have a 2 year track record in your new real estate business. 

Professionals with decades of experience and very impressive track records do all the heavy lifting for you.

If the records show a bank of some sort (I see a lot of different Bank of "fill in the blank" owned properties and some are courtesy of an LLC) will they all go to some sort of auction or traditional sale?

Many people don't realize all of the great third party apps that integrate with Quickbooks to make record keeping and tracking more convenient.

Hard Money & Private Lenders tend to want to see a successful track record and/or a substantial down payment so keep saving up and look for ways to gain experience. 

Notarized copies of birth and other records will no longer be sufficient.

It's loosely organized and is a meet & greet\networking group that has occasional topic-focused meetings. 

Can you serve niche tenants, like some organization, that reduces vacancies or pays premium rents for special amenities or location?  

None of those loans have come up on my credit report because they are not recorded anywhere.Recently I have been working through another friend who setup an LLC to invest with me.