That being said, she needs reassurances that you will listen to her women's intuition, and that you understand that she has a stronger need for financial safety. 

Of course, a cash offer will always be stronger, but I’ve found a number of sellers who sort of expect the buyer to need a mortgage and just figure it’s part of the process.

There will always be naysayers, and the more I hear it, the stronger it makes my desire to succeed.There is a simple fact about real estate, more people have become millionaires through real estate than any other investment vehicle, hands down so anyone stating you are crazy to get into real estate should be looked at as the crazy/ignorant person, not you.

This fact plays much stronger in my market than lending standards.Values around Puget Sound are increasing rapidly because of the success/types of employers based here (Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, Costco, Alaska Air, PACCAR, Weyerhauser, Cray, F5, Redfin, Zillow) which is drawing in many high pay employees, the lack of supply noted by @David Dachtera, the copious number of all cash buyers (including non-US Citizens whom for example just bought my last home), exacerbated by restrictive building permits/zoning and the lack of land due to the amount of water/shorelines and steep hillsides; not so much because of a incremental lowering in lender standards.Median Seattle Home price $670,000, not exactly a first time home buyers market.https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa/home-values/Overlay that chart with stock price charts for AMZN and EXPE...  

What you are missing IMO is your yield on cost in stronger markets like Seattle will be much higher over the years, and increase every year, compared to most of the midwest towns with higher rent-to-price ratios initially, but lower demand and higher supply relative to that demand (which is why they have the higher ratios) and therefore lower rates of rent increases, and those fewer, more profitable units will be much easier to manage to boot.

There is an element of that with a lot of people that live in desirable cities....but no where in the US is that stronger than NYC.

I will try to maintain a stronger focus on this forum over the next few months.

You could always parnter too with someone who maybe has stronger construction skillset but lacks time and you have the stronger skillset of finding the home etc...

Florida's real estate market is also getting stronger, as more people are moving there to get away from the cold.

The folks I know that 'do without' have a stronger reason than to have a big nest egg someday.