You've possibly stated in writing that you (may have) violated several laws ie. working as a property manager w/o the proper licenses etc. 2.

Hello, congrats on your license.

My concern is that without that amount of personal income available I would have difficulty establishing a sufficient amount of reserves for emergencies.

All require the "lender" to be licensed in the state, for borrower to have no mortgage lates or hiccups, have different rules and change the rules whenever their investors (not government MBS these are big guns investment firms with pulse of the location where your property sits) see clouds in the sky.

How are established investors finding deals? 

I think one of them offers a public API.Once you get your license, you can join the CAR Chicago Association of Realtors and I have found them to be extremely helpful with questions like this. 

I am looking to hire an established Denver firm to perform a cost segregation study on a rental.

If you do more than one unit this way make sure you don't need a boarding house license in your town. 

I’m Arizona licensed and while I’m not an attorney or CPA, I’ve got a pretty wide network of investor-savvy agents and property mangrs who I trust.. folks who actually roll up their sleeves and dive into the trenches.The right guidance can help you identify stable neighborhoods in Austin where job growth still hums along nicely, or link you up to off-market multifamily properties in San Antonio that don’t get splashed across public listings.

Hey - I'm a TX realtor and I have a licensed realtor who wants me to share deals with them from a wholesaler.