I've since read numerous books on real estate investing and loving it.

I would immediately begin investing with your family, as you have the credibility and net worth elements that stop most newbies taken care off. 

As everyone has mentioned, there are numerous pitfalls to consider.

If you really cannot choose then I really like his suggestion of the first broker that responds from one of your numerous cities "wins".Enter @James Wise He is from Cleveland give him a shout and pick his brain a bit.

The low income element, with SEC 8 or not, makes screening harder, maintaining harder, and collecting harder.

@John Edrisy equally important element of price is how's the utilization today and can I re-position the property.

This causes an overrepresentation of bad experiences online (this can be seen in google comments about almost every restaurant, even if the place is stellar there are numerous one star reviews.

I agree with these guys, I've never had luck cash-out refinancing for numerous reasons.Also, in my opinion some of the most brain damage from deals is the financing, so I prefer to only go through it once :) 

After trying and failing numerous other ways to get one of these homes- I walked into the office of one of the more popular realtors in the area.

@Henry LiChi I believe @Kevin Gray has numerous clients in the SoCal area.