I don’t know necessarily how I should approach him about the potential his equity has to change the dynamic/financial freedom of our family for generations to come.

We have two 1 year olds so being in a safe neighborhood is vital to convincing my wife that this is the best move to getting to financial freedom as quickly as possible.

I dream of financial freedom (as I would think all of you mostly do LOL) but I also want to start my REI adventure because I'm tired of the 9-5, I want more time with my family, and I want more purpose in life than just delivering pizzas.

You will need a court hearing to decide who gets that. 

Beware when reading that the Canadian/Ontario real estate/financial environment here is nothing like that in the US.

The economy is turning around and we are in a better financial place as well as a returning market.  

The one other applicant has an average score of 653 but his income is only $35K so he doesn't have the greatest financial stability as well (he is current on all payments though).

My husband says he trusts me and supports me (knowing that I am the financially savvy one in the family), but he is a quite pessimistic given that he is a police officer and only sees the worst in people (think tenants pouring cement down the toilet, taking the water heater with them when they leave, or landlord/tenant eviction calls).

I wish I had been as aware and financially advanced as you are now when I was that age!

However the neighbor was adamant about bringing my landlord to small claims court, and thus in return, the landlord wants to sue me for the damages the neighbor is claiming.