With a little bit of patience, you can learn from others' mistakes and effective strategies that add up to some very basic know how. 

Basically I'm looking at a fourplex for 125K.  

The real reason I want to buy there is I'll get basically free management from my folks and I've been having a heck of a time finding a profitable rental here in Spokane, WA. 

With some basic understanding of investment principles you should be able to discern over the course of a cup of coffee or a beer whether an agent is on the same page as you and has helpful information to share.

The home is basically a shell with outer wall damage.

Maybe it was a trick question ;)  .

I am looking for a basic private lender agreement. 

I found a reference on here that said these were a good source for finding your basic prices/sqft.

It is currently rented at $875/month which basically is a break even point.

I was basically able to just tell them everything I wanted and it seemed to go pretty smoothly.