Now I am a licensed realtor, and want to dedicate some time towards commission based sales.  

Personally, I would forego trying to wade into an investment property until you get the wife through her professional training program, and established back in the workforce.

When it comes to working with sellers, it's more the trust you establish with each other that counts.

I have a friend who's a licensed contractor and is going to thoroughly inspect it. 

Every task has to be performed by a licensed contractor who bids out and tracks paperwork.

Dave, anyone can do it, in the sense that there are no licensing requirements (that I know of, anyway) to be a deal sponsor.  

Hey,So I am currently obtaining my real estate license.

Progress payments to be made upon your inspection and approval, holding out at least 10% until final inspection and approval of any permits, and 30 days after completion or until unconditional lien releases are submitted for all subs and materials for which preliminary 30 day notices have been filed.In larger time sensitive projects you can also negotiate for of a performance bond which would compensate you for failure to complete the project on time and to the specifications in the contract.Always check the status of the contractors license with your state contractors licensing agency and verify that the guy signing the contract actually is the contractor whose license is being provided.

They sent a freaking email back to me with my SSN and SSN card and drivers license attached everywhere in the PDF attachment.

“Broker” ended up not having license.