In your journey learning about real estate, I would advice to think about your goals and how certain strategies can help you achieve those goals.

Even with a large down payment, cash flow is not easy to achieve.

If the goal is to not work, imo, you won't achieve nearly what you envision.

No worries Angela, sounds like you know exactly what's required in order to achieve your goals.

Even just having the knowledge of local laws and regulations is a factor to consider when assembling your dream team to achieve your goals.   

I think you ought to look around a bit and compare how many people achieved wealth from vacant land versus rental property.

I have been wanting to aggressively grow our rental portfolio in order to achieve financial freedom for the last few years, but my wife is very pessimistic/conservative, wants to focus solely on paying off ALL debt first, and hates the thought of even acquiring "good" debt. 

What are you trying to achieve?

I know it won’t be as easy, but I want to find the right path that would be allow me to achieve that goal.

I have been wanting to aggressively grow our rental portfolio for the past few year, with the intention to achieve financial freedom and primary retirement income  My wife is very pessimistic/conservative, wants to focus solely on paying off ALL debt first, and hates the thought of even acquiring "good" debt.