Thanks guys for all the welcomes and advice..I did some driving for dollars today and found 13 house that were in rough shape so going do some comps on them tonight for practice and skip trace then cold call

I believe more than a few tax pros on this forum practice what they preach and invest in RE themselves (myself included).Judging by your description of your current situation and the hypotheticals on your horizon, I would advise you to look for continuous guidance as opposed to a single consultation to clear this one hurdle.This is a growth and preservation of wealth plan.

Poor screening practices is a death spiral that no one wins or can break free from until the property is in foreclosure.

Before going over the road, I gave up my studio apt & sold my car, leaving me with practically no debt.

I am thinking of exchanging one of my properties but I am unsure how this works in actual practice. 

You will need to work with someone with a license in order to practice.

I currently have a real estate license, but I'm not actively practicing and haven't in years.

Here you should get an attorney conversant with commercial real estate practices and have them prepare your leases, which is a whole lot different than residential.

I guess i'm frustrated as I am putting so much work into credibility and SEO and she just sees it as a waste of time and money.

Probably best practice is to try to gather more information about the specific property and owner's situation prior to reaching out with an offer.