If you bank at a retail bank it's likely that you could pull a cashier's check to provide  certified funds.As to the wisdom of using other people's money (that you are solely responsible for) you'd better be comfortable with repayment even if things don't work out as planned.

Just fill out the paperwork and you’ll be surprised how quickly it can work out.

Even the Baltimore City Sheriff (who is in charge of enforcing eviction orders) testified in Annapolis this past session for more tenant eviction protections.

Eventually, it will turn and work out "in the end" but the opportunity cost to waiting is too high to warrant keeping it if you don't love the property.I'm not sure how helpful that is; I am bullish on the area and own 1 property in Temple.

This will probably not work out well if your wife is not fully on board.

I work out of state so I'm only home on the weekends, also I don't have a large amount of capital for direct mail.

How you structure the deal will be dependent upon the two of you, but you may make a finders fee, or work out a partial ownership, or something else.

I'm not smart enough to work out the math of which option would be best, or how long it would take for the syndication option to overtake the DST option. 

This means active sponsors can participate in live Q&A sessions to get all their questions answered directly.

If you were to partner with another more experienced investor to purchase a short term rental, do a cost segregation, and "materially participate" then you could gain the benefits you are looking for without negatively cash flowing, and you could work out a deal where you maybe only have to materially participate for the first year to claim your tax benefits and then you can act as a more passive investor.