Access to international buyers is one thing I stressed when talking to realtors and the one I chose originally told me that their firm does have international exposure but that turned out not to be anything past putting my property on their usual list of websites.

If you become a BP Pro member you should have access to state specific leases.  

It was already late in the game & we were in a desperate scenario where we needed to access those funds ASAP.

Do you all have any advice on how I can be sure I am crossing all my T's and dotting all I's when it comes to landlord/tenant laws in my area, zoning laws, LLCs and other legal things I should be well-versed in before making my first deal?

Interesting that they had to go through your yard to get to the home behind-why not access the street from the front of that home.  

Give the courts access to administer funds, similar to collecting fines, but they would issue payments.

If you want to get proximity to good schools or more access to an urban downtown etc. if you want a new construction or older home.

REebroker with MLS only access.

They did their work remotely from the rental and were still able to access campus when necessary.

First, if you have a passion for investing in real estate but don't really want to make it your full-time job, then you should either go to university and get a degree in a field that interests you (having a job makes it much easier to access loans to finance deals) or start working straight away and join university in 3 or so years (many universities have a lot of 'older' student supports and discounts and this way you enter uni with an income).