It seems not the best way to spend money.

You will be spending 350-400K for a duplex.

Or if we'll have to find someone else to assist us.

However, just as a new real estate agent/broker will acquire a solid basic education in real estate principles, real estate law and real estate finance by studying and taking classes for the licensing exam, other careerists will have two legs up by spending time acquiring knowledge before embarking on paid working career. 

My Name is Miles, currently living in Arlington (DFW Area), I've always had intentions of at some point getting into real estate, now at 40, and finally at a place financially that it is feasible, I'm planning on spending the next 6-8 months learning all I can (and then rest of my life continuing learning lol) before taking the FIRST plunge.

If I could deploy the same amount of up front cost to purchase an up and running portfolio.My calculations tell me that I can be cash flowing much more if I spend the money on a portfolio or complex.

You can then set it up to where they email you when a house comes on the market that meets your criteria (let's say a multifamily house in a specific zip code that has been sitting for 90+ days) so that you aren't spending a lot of time looking through listings that aren't going to get you anywhere.

Be prepared to spend a ton of dough.Personally I think that it is unnecessary.

As important a consideration is how will you reinvest/spend the proceeds from the sale to build wealth.Hope this helps.

It sounds like you have a great background for investing as well as assisting other real estate investors in buying suitable real estate.