@Gautam Venkatesan that's a common misunderstanding.  

I'm assuming this is a very common problem?

While it is more common for a realtor to be paid a commission from the selling side of the transaction, it's perfectly legal to have the buyer pay for the realtor's service; it just depends on what's in the contract.  

These are possible, but not common.  

This has been a common practice for many homes lately. 

I notate the story may not have illustrated how that all came to be in real life but that is not a common way for that loan to be made.  

I don't know who is out overpaying around here, but it seems like a rent to price ratio of 0.5 - 1.0% is common for anything on the MLS.  

Let me know if I can help you at all, zoning is very strict, and everyone outside of central florida will tell you to get a multi-family.. but.. as you can tell from growing up here, that's NOT very common at all.

Going off site is a common way to get scammed, but not always. 

A more common and practical approach would be to calculate your return on equity.