I would love to hear any advice you guys have for someone my age getting into this.

The average culprit is not an evil corporation or foreign investor - The typical tax evader in the United States is a male under the age of 50 in the highest tax bracket and with a complicated return, and the most common means of tax evasion is overstatement of charitable contributions, particularly church donations.  

Congrats on looking into REI at such a young age.

I need to be certain that at the legal age of retirement my wife and I will be able to TRULY  retire...if we choose to do so.If we was to sell our primary now, we will be able to pay off all of our consumer debt, student loans, with money left to invest.  

This all, of course, depends on the type of rental units, age, deferred maintenance, etc.I hope this helps!

Your age range, any investments now, your risk tolerance, those kind of things.

But when you market to "move up" families (dual income middle aged with GOOD jobs) you'll have a great business model with rent to own, with seller financing.  

But it will not be even close enough for him to retire on in 7-12 years when he hits retirement age. 

List all in addition to yourself including approx age : __________?

@Carey Lilly, in this day and age, you really don't need a local accountant.