In the first video he spends around 5 minutes trying to explain Lease Options but completely fails.

I have 30+ units and on a regular month usually only spend about 5 hours total on management things, most of which involves collecting rents and bookkeeping.

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 buy real estate, you will spend hours and days and weeks and months of your life dealing with it… Home repairs, guests,… An investment really has to be pretty amazing to sacrifice all that time for itThe houses I own I bought many years ago at dirt cheap prices and dirt cheap mortgage rates.

If I did, I'd find a place I really like to visit and be prepared to spend a lot of time there making connections.  

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

But it just depends on your risk threshold and how much you're looking to spend.  

Apply for a dimensional variance on the vacant lot to allow a smaller lot and/or setback so it can be built upon.Your best first steps are to sketch a plan, possibly with an engineer's help, then contact the zoning department to discuss your idea with them to get informal feedback on your liklihood of success before you spend a lot of money.

But I get it in the lower value assets of the mid west and rust belt cities wholesalers dominate because they spend 100s of thousands in marketing for those type of assets..

Based on the questions you are asking I think you need to spend more time listening to podcasts like Bigger Pockets and Bigger Pockets Rookie.