When they went into the house, the pair pointed out all the old stuff my wife could sell to reclamation centers.

Other group members have already paired off and started doing deals together. 

With LA county and SB county people moving to "cheaper" more charming Ventura County, paired with a very low rate of new development, demand and cost have accelerated at an unsustainable rate (long term). 

I recently bought a pair of quadplexes under a commercial loan in Dec of 2015.

Potential pair of house and motivated sellers.

I have been a Realtor for 27 years and I believe 100% that  homes sell themselves BUT how did that home get presented so it could sell itself, that is the question.I am not selling a pair of jeans or a car where I can "convince" you  to buy, you agree, put your money down and leave the store with the item - all done in a few hours or a day or two. 

Little things will come up, you need at least one pair of boots on the ground to be there if only to drive by your house and confirm it's still standing.  

Is it better maybe to just work out an assignment deal of the lease option so that when i get a tenant buyer, i can just assign my lease option rights to them, collect an option consideration fee, and step out of the deal so the tenant buyers and seller are then paired together directly? 

The best thing you can do when first starting out is pair up with an experienced investor to help you get some skin in the game.

If there is someone who could use extra pair of hands to take some burden off of their plate.