(It has been suggested that an LLC taxed as a partnership might work, I don't know how to do that).2) I'm eager to legitimately secure ironclad Real Estate Professional status -- likely via my wife (former realtor) who can devote (part-time) work to these various activities.

Also - workout time is devoted to listening to podcasts now instead of music.  

How much time do you have to devote to this?  

Short sale wholesaling is a whole other issue - check out some of the posts on these forums - there's a section devoted to it:-http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/103-short-salesGood luck

Why would someone devote possibly months of time teaching you, and getting you to your end game, to only end up not making any money because you used another agent for a deal.

Even if you're naturally talented you still have to devote a lot of time and effort to become truly great at something.  

Flipping probably being the most rare (as far as people I know that are making a full time gig out of it and consistently making good money).Unless you have a niche that most other people aren't doing around here, or you have some sort of 'in' with an experienced local investor (who is willing to siphon their deals off to you), and/or you are able to consistently devote the time equivalent of somewhere between a part-time job and two full-time jobs working your lead/acquisition system - you might find it very challenging to do much more than get lucky here or there, best case.To me, the less than top tier cities/markets in NC seem to be a smarter play for the picking up rentals right now (so - NOT Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent Wilmington, etc).But I'm wrong about all sorts of things all the time, just ask my wife. 

If there is someone out there that you really want to learn from you have to be a devoted fan.

However, my primary goal at the moment is to get to know more people in this business and make some friends as I haven't devoted much time in this aspect and it is probably the most important.

That way, I can actually get started, learn from a seasoned investor along the way, and not devote as much time as I would normally have to doing it on my own.