When they ask the nature of my business, do I advise that I'm a real estate investor?

Then they are changing the nature of investment by investing in sometime called Mission 10k. 

It's just the nature of the business.

As far as ethically that is part of my nature and I don't care for the aggressive (potentially predatory) strategies discussed by others, but I see value in offering a transparent and convenient service with lower costs and faster turnarounds than traditional MLS transactions. 

For instance, things like death, divorce, job loss, natural disasters, heath issues, etc may cause you to change your plans unexpectedly and may change what you do with your home as a result.

Without knowing the nature of your partnerships it’s tough to say specifically.

I'm particularly passionate about rental, fix-and-flip family and multi-unitsOutside of real estate, I enjoy nature photography.

Its just kind of the nature of the beast and investing were over 50% of all homes are rentals its a different lifestyle than what we are used to at least on the west coast were maybe 10% of SFR's are rentals  renters rent apartments.

It seemed a natural fit for me since I always wanted to be a businessman but still had a 9 to 5.

And, even then, hitting your rate target would still be extremely challenging unless you were paying points up front, in which case it would probably make more sense to just try to put in a bigger down payment (or pay down the balance if refi) instead and get better terms naturally offered at the lower LTV.