Buyers and sellers in commercial need you, as their broker/agent, to help them make financially intelligent sales and purchases and to really make your mark you need to be very well connected.

Worst case scenario it is your own asset, not marital property, and can help you out financially if you need it.

I am thinking about starting with wholesaling so I can fully learn the ins and outs when it comes to real estate investing with minimal financial risk.

My goal is to eventually gain financial freedom (teachers generally don't have this option if they only teach!)

Is it so hard that I have to pay a "financial advisor" to help me?

I'm certain this is a good deal but I'm a bit apprehensive because, for 1) its outside of my Houston area Market so overseeing a rehab would be quite difficult 2) With such a large home we would face some financial challenges with doing a complete remodel.

Am I living in a dreamland thinking I’ll be able to find something with these criteria and the amount I have for down payment that will make any financial sense?

It did exactly that, I took the Ultimate Beginners Guide and it put me in the right direction.The reason I put "Trainee" in my subject is because I bought into the systematic way of thinking so I have acquired quite a bit of debt, and none of it is a "good debt".

However, I went to the first meeting and the main speaker was an out-of-town guy giving a super high-pressure sales job for some MLM program called "Financial Education Services Protection", which didn't actually have anything to do with real estate, other than he was pitching us to pressure credit challenged prospects into buying this (my opinion) predatory program.

I own a tax return preparation, financial planning and business consulting firm that specializes in tax returns for real estate investors and setting up LLCs for investors.