You can attend all the REIAs and read all the books and sign up for all the conferences, and spend all the money, and you are will never really know you can do it until you do.Over 20 years in real estate in various forms and roles, action will beat out intelligence or education or even network 100% of the time.  

I would spend time building your list of WHO (agent, mentor, contractor/handyman), then WHAT (house type, tenant base, work needed), then WHERE (location).

I spend $90 a month for one LLC, and $50 for another.

I'm going to reiterate what's already been mentioned above, but I'm going to actually give you examples of why it's relevant to you to find a U.S. tax professional.1 - You're going to need to file U.S. taxes once you have property down here, there's federal filings, state filings, and sometimes local filings too2 - Tons of tax treaties between the U.S. and Canada that are easy to miss and can cost you a lot of money (important one with rentals - effectively connected income - if the professional you talk to doesn't know what this is, run away)3 - The amount of days you spend in the U.S. needs to be tracked and if you go over a threshold, all of your worldwide income could be taxable by the U.S.4 - Selling real property means up to 15% of your sales proceeds might not be available to you for years (FIRPTA)5 - Lots of nuance at the state and local levels, which both want to take as much money from you as possibleMain takeaway here is that you should find a U.S. based tax person.

My goal is to have financial freedom so I can eventually quit my 9-5 job and use my time to spend with family and do things that excite me.

If you have at least $2,000 to spend or once you scale to that point you could run ads to get your seller leads to come to you and usually these people are just scrolling and your ad pops up that you're looking to "pay cash for homes." 

I’m unable to invest in areas familiar to me as I’m priced out of suburban NJ where I was born and raised.I’m looking to spend $150-$180K on a condo and will need to research viable areas.

Always ask tenants to check to make sure it is locked.Another disadvantage is that you have to change the batteries regularly.Another disadvantage is you have to spend quite some time programming the locks and tracking the code3.

Spend time driving for dollars in Tacoma neighborhoods to identify distressed properties.

Focus on tax-saving strategies such as cost segregation studies and bonus depreciation to accelerate deductions.By qualifying as a Real Estate Professional (spending 750+ hours annually and materially participating), you can offset your wife’s S-Corp income with real estate losses, reducing your tax liability.