So, in a hot market the seller will look first for a cash buyer with no financing contingency, second for a buyer with approved financing from a conventional lender, third from a buyer who has been qualified by a mortgage broker, and last, i at all from a buyer with a POF from a hard money lender.Of course not all sellers, or the brokers representing them are sophisticated, so if you make enough offers you WILL get some sellers that accept you POF letter.Just to show you how meaningless these POF letters from hard money lenders really are, about 8 years ago a number of lenders published a generic POF on their websites, and told potential borrowers to download the letters, fill in the blanks, and they had an instant proof of funds.  

Others here I'm sure will have more experience and knowledge than I do, but from what I have gathered, your real estate license is definitely not necessary to get started or potentially ever.

I prefer electric because I don't like to mess around with gas lines or deal with potential gas leaks in the future.

I personally would lean more towards Shawnee if I was in your position because it seems like the upside potential in that market is higher.

I would express the concerns not only around the liability, but unless you are willing and able to sell a foot of the property to him, you can potentially have major issues when trying to sell the property.

I am looking into a  4-plex deal in Pennsylvania (a market I know a lot about) that is currently a rental property but after running a cash flow analysis on it, it has a lot of potential for higher cash flow as the current rental rates are well below market value.

Nothing to do with the purchasing of real estate, obviously, but to help yourself out in the beginning and also as a potential alternative means of saving/making some extra money long-term?

You should get a few contractor contacts in your phone and get them to look at your potential projects and provide quotes.

If this particular seller is wealthy, I would probably advise the seller to not even consider it given the potential risks. 

You need to form relationships with as many agents and potential sellers as you can.