The short answer is yes, you can invest assuming you have some capital and use a hard money lender that lends on the asset itself only, not your credit score. 

My lender couldn't have cared less about assets for my fannie loan, which I thought was weird. 

I would propose either an LLC or Series LLC depending on the volume of assets you are holding at any given point. 3.

I'm trying to find an online service to obtain my Texas state ID #, in order to open a bank account for my LLC, here in Texas.

Your biggest asset right now is local knowledge; maybe time to lead with that card.

If I do not desire the tenant or he does not want the increased rent I look for a new tenant for the rehabbed unit.  6) I move into the not rehabbed unit and start rehabbing it.  7) when I am done rehabbing it I refinance it pulling out hopefully all of my invested money (using contractors I usually get my down and part of my rehab cost but if you are doing much of the work yourself I think you may be able to get out all of your invested money 8) Use all that knowledge you have obtained to do it again with less mistakes trying for that homerun investment (I think most experienced So Cal RE investors have the Homerun deal: the type of deal you can potentially retire on).Here is also something you may not know: Commercial RE loans (5+ units) are more based on the numbers of the property than the numbers of the investor. 

LoI is one way to make an offer on a commercial asset. 

I'm particularly interested in cash-flow assets however wouldn't turn down solid appreciation. 

I plan on obtaining my salesperson license sometime this year, but I would like to start wholesaling before I dive into being an agent. 

Without a job, if you have cash and a good enough deal, you may find an asset based lender to fund the deal.