It has been this that has held me back from pulling the trigger on my dreams of REI.So, I need to find creative ways to rebuild in spite of debt and the ex husband.

Those will still get you but less of a hit.And then there is the case of the thing that was obviously done behind your back, or "just happened" in spite of your significant efforts as a landlord.

As I stated in the original post commodities ARE rising in spite of what should be LOW demand due to recession.

Most of the time, I feel like I'm so close, and every now and then I feel like I'm so far away, so the encouragement to keep going in spite of lacking a big marketing budget is definitely empowering.

That is a HUGE time saver in spite of the additional cost.

If any wholesaler brings me a great deal in my market, I'd be happy to pay them for the opportunity to do business on that great deal.... even if we met at a local shop or in spite of some of the other deal breakers you mentioned.I'm getting a little tired reading all the posts using terminology such as "would-be-wholesalers" and "wanna-be-wholesalers".

After you have a reliable deal flow then worry about mainly tax advantages wholesaling or flipping in the name of an LLC taxed as an S corp to leverage additional expenses you can deduct inspite of paying out half of your profits as W2 paying FICA etc.  

I don't know the answer but it still seems like cutting off your nose in spite of your face. $800/yr on multiple properties when just about anything can happen to one to make it uninhabitable, I mean the insurance would pay for itself in line a month or two. 

In spite of that, I offered them $1,000 in cash, plus their security deposit, plus no pro-rata rent if they and their mountain of junk (I actually specified that ALL junk, theirs or not, had to be removed from the property) were gone by the end of the next week.Boy, did they come through. $1,000 in cash proved to be a huge motivator, got me a completely clear yard with no personal property left inside or out, and gave me an empty unit I could remodel immediately. 

In spite of the medical challenges, my personal financials are stellar.In the short term, I have an eye out for cash flow buy and hold.