., trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong while analyzing properties). 

Further, he's using an @gmail.com email address—don't get me wrong, I run my RE business through my primary @gmail accounts set up for the LLCs, but as a legitimate tax-paying lending company? 

You might be asking the wrong questions at Fidelity (not sure if they do or do not allow this), but you aren't technically investing directly in real estate, you are investing in private equity partnerships that are investing in real estate.They might not want you buying direct interests in real estate, but are okay with private equity investments.

I could be wrong though.

The real benefit of using leverage is so that you are not burying your cash in the dirt and can access it when things do go wrong without losing the property.

Is market like Texas where they often have soil/foundation issues, or like MN/the Midwest where the asphalt shingles might have hail damage?

They may have a breakdown, but brokerages traditionally don't see the value in investor-friendly agents and for this, they are very wrong.

But I sincerely doubt that they'd make you tear it out and redo it unless it was done wrong to begin with. 

Half of them are below 30 and have never seen a downmarket in their investing lives, and are getting new investors prioritizing the wrong things, with highly risky strategies backed by long strings of "ifs."

I sure hope the lawyer I consulted is not steering me wrong here.