Convincing her that it is not the same as going to the casino and betting on slots had been a challenge.

We will see how much of a challenge that ends up presenting.

Sounds like you have a lot of the natural skills that make for a good start in REI.

As a natural born educator, I have always believed in the importance of being a "Learner for Life".

If you network enough then you will naturally end up connecting with like minded investors. 

I imagine that's a never-ending challenge.

This makes investing in multiple income properties  challenging for investors without a lot of cash. 

Your challenge will be convincing this type of agent that you are a serious investor and that working with you will be a good use of their time.

(Wifey and I have been doing BRRRR for a few yrs prior to this, so it was a natural fit to do that within the SDIRA LLC.)The SDIRA LLC helped me turn around the situation where we would have previously watched the AL expenses rapidly burn through their cash. 

seems that Chicago has some of that going around the Equity build charges by the SEC sound similar in nature.. that's one tough city to operate in..