I don’t know necessarily how I should approach him about the potential his equity has to change the dynamic/financial freedom of our family for generations to come.

I have networked on here and within my sphere of influence and have found that U S Bank is very competitive and very hungry for real estate opportunities.

We have two 1 year olds so being in a safe neighborhood is vital to convincing my wife that this is the best move to getting to financial freedom as quickly as possible.

I dream of financial freedom (as I would think all of you mostly do LOL) but I also want to start my REI adventure because I'm tired of the 9-5, I want more time with my family, and I want more purpose in life than just delivering pizzas.

Beware when reading that the Canadian/Ontario real estate/financial environment here is nothing like that in the US.

The economy is turning around and we are in a better financial place as well as a returning market.  

The one other applicant has an average score of 653 but his income is only $35K so he doesn't have the greatest financial stability as well (he is current on all payments though).

However, in your experience, how much of that truly influences opportunity within an emerging market?

My husband says he trusts me and supports me (knowing that I am the financially savvy one in the family), but he is a quite pessimistic given that he is a police officer and only sees the worst in people (think tenants pouring cement down the toilet, taking the water heater with them when they leave, or landlord/tenant eviction calls).

I wish I had been as aware and financially advanced as you are now when I was that age!