My end goal is to create enough passive income to retire within the next 5 to 10 years.

The pros I have found a few deals being able to access the MLS and I have saved cost on representing myself on purchase/sales.

My plan is to acquire a portfolio of buy and hold properties sufficient to support my husband and me in our retirement (~20 yrs from now), as well as to create a legacy for our children.

I plan to acquire a portfolio of properties for long term retirement purposes. 

Most that left in 08 either just retired or changed professions.

I am looking to diversify my investments with real estate and find a second career for when I retire from my current job.

My suggestion would be save up for down payment and buy a multi family with an FHA loan.

"Bookkeepers" who work for $20-50 an hour are retired ladies who are self taught on quickbooks and don't know actual accounting. 

So we are ramping up to make our next purchase hopefully in the next 6 months.My goal is to at least supplement my retirement with rental properties, but would love to be able to someday get into investing full time and stop working for the man.

In that case you would either need to refinance that to a conventional loan, or save up a higher down payment for the new house.