This seems to be falling into soft core political painfulness.

Do you find there to be value for us to still reach out to those brokers who have been around 30 years and are high-level operators? 

In my experience these are the levels of how financial fraud is doneLevel 1 - The “sponsor” is a fraudster from the beginning and the entire investment is a designed fraud designed to steal the investor's money Level 2 - The sponsor initially intends to operate legally and honestly but the temptation of easy access to money, usually fueled by addictions to drugs, sex, partying, etc. leads to the bad decision to line the sponsors own pocketsLevel 3 - The sponsor intends to operate legally but a crisis in their life resulting in a need for money leads the sponsor to “borrow” from investor’s funds with the full intention of paying it back ( which they are unable to do).Level 4 - The sponsor intends to operate legally but the assets under their management incur substantial loses; the sponsor attempts to cover up these loses by “temporarily” borrowing from one investor to pay another or submitting false results.

We hired staff that managed and ran it with us overseeing operations with a weekly Zoom call.

Please note, units have to be registered (then renewal annually) with the Department of Planning and Permitting in order to be operated as legal vacation rentals.  

I am really interested in the potential that RE investment has to help provide an income for my family and help me slowly build a farming operation that is set up for long-term sustainability.I plan to use my RE license to raise capital and get access to potential rental properties.

Since they can't leave or operate they have been holding the payments.

As I understand it, there used to be an on-site management company that operated some of the units as a condotel. 

Following David Green's Core 4 strategy (realtor, contractor, property manager, and lender) gives confidence to invest anywhere.

Like many (most) businesses it requires an investment of capital; money expenditure for ongoing marketing; management of operating, marketing and professional personnel; keeping accounting records and filing tax returns; established sales practices; constant monitoring of goals, budgets, and productivity; establishment and implementation of operational systems; and providing customer service.