I'm also forever indebted to all of those that have answered the questions that I have had and questions others have already inquired about that were on my mind.In a world sometimes filled with schemes, greed, bad contractors, and "gurus", the biggerpockets community shows in my mind that individual RE investors from all walks of life have truly found a place where they can congregate, learn, teach, and grow from one another as one collective body of people- all for FREE!

Every guru is telling every newbie to market to them for their get rick quick scheme.

Vanessa,I am in the same boat as you and here are my ideas for myself which may also help answer your questions.First listen to the following podcasts until you have a complete understanding of the direct mailing scheme.

Love the color scheme, very eye catching!

I guess I am simply finding myself struggling to free mental space to believe it's actually possible to become "financially independent" , and not just another pyramid scheme, book or, no offense intended "social networking site" etc. 

The ONLY thing I dislike about not using conventional finance for this type of deal is the 5yr balloon, but in my grand scheme I had been hoping that the market came back in the next 5 yrs and I had planned on selling some things, including this place.

My scheme gives tenant a stake in taking good care of the property and attracts good tenants to the scheme. 

Ground rents are perpetual and are bound to whoever owns the home - the ground rent holder can not terminate the ground lease.Its confusing and can appear significant, however in the grand scheme of things its really just a little hiccup in the Baltimore real estate market.  

But... we have high expenses (approx $35k/month) so... we understand that real estate is not a "get rich" quick scheme, however we would like to find a lucrative cash flow business for us... we thought of commercial and medium size apartment buildings.2- I am on the introverted side so I'd rather not be knocking on doors and cold calling.. so I also want to know because of that, what type of real estate investments would work for me as well....Any advice?

Some might even argue that Real Estate is not supposed to be yet another "pyramid scheme" (ie. why aren't Agents doing THEIR job properly)!