Would there be anyone out there in the BP community that would be interested in attending so we can trade ideas and share marketing tips.

If you don't know the areas, I'd talk to a fellow agent in your office or even your broker.

I just went down the the Office of the Zoning Administrator in Baltimore City today and I was told that units can't be added to a building in zoning codes R1 - R6 (e.g. you can't turn a 3 unit into a 4 unit). 

A quick tip for you (free of charge, lol): Look for a building where all the rents come to, say, $2k/month and your mortgage is $1.2k.

He started out as a highway patrol officer, but after our second child was born we both decided it was best for him to quit and be the stay at home parent and for me to keep working.

Any suggestions, contacts, information, or tips would be greatly appreciated.

That should have tipped me off that I wasn't properly balancing the investment potential with our vacation desires.

I have seen some brokers asking for monthly fees for office space and some asking for a pretty hefty commission split.

They'll offer interest only payments in 1 year, 2 year and 4 year options with rates going from 8.5% - 12%.  3 points is pretty standard for a deal that small UNLESS a broker wants to hack off a half a point or so to help out a first time investor who they believe in and want to work with long term.As far as all those lenders throwing money at you haha One of the biggest problems I see is loan officers wasting peoples time by acting so stoked on every deal they hear about and taking investors into the process without doing DUE DILLIGENCE. 

The trick is that a lot of them (like the Weichert office I initially went to work for when I got licensed) tell a great story about "continuous, ongoing training", but fail to deliver.Best bet in my opinion is to talk with another agent who got great start-up help and sign on there.