Not a bad way to open lending negotiations (and that deal did get funded with favorable terms).Good luck!

The risk in wholesaling is loss of earnest money, spending on marketing that leads to no deals, getting a bad reputation if you put bad deals under contract and have to weasel out of them with unethical escape clauses etc....

My current residents is valued around $210000. The properties completely paid for. I'm a licensed residential real estate agent with less than 2 years of comission. I want to start leveraging my current home to purcha...

Frankly, this doesn't sound so bad compared to the return I could get on a 10 year bond.   

Any answer other than close on the property themselves is what gives wholesalers a bad name.  

I hear good things about lots of up-and-coming cities (Indianapolis IN, Mesa AZ, Madison WI to name a few), but I know nothing about those markets, the culture of those towns, the good and bad areas, or even how to find a good property manager over there. 

I see some pretty bad reviews and a little concerned whether to purchase/finance with them or seek my own financing 

Methinks you're pricing in the worst case scenario (which is not a bad thing in itself). 

I imagine a lot of the foreclosed investors could have stayed afloat...kept their properties...using retirement savings but chose not to throw good money after bad.

These questionable assignments have been used by bad actors like Ocwen to wrongfully foreclose on naive homeowners.