Will I be able to even get my feet wet in this field at all under my circumstances?

A good bookkeeper/financial advisor can get you setup with automated processes to make sure you know exactly where you stand for each property and show where every dime is spent. 

@Cisco Hood, not enough information to calculate a true financial decision.   

Just two partners with two different circumstances in life.

However, I want to provide security for my family long-term and attain Financial Freedom.

I stumbled upon Bigger Pockets 2 months ago through a Financial Literacy blog that I follow and have been an avid listener to the podcasts, which led to peaking my interest in RE investing.

You need to look through the Wind Shield in order to anticipate if the road ahead is clear or if there are obstacles that you need to avoid.Once you understand how to Drive your Business (or Investment), you start to do calculations based on the future, such as 10 year projections with Annualized Rental Increases, Expenses Increases, Rates of Return, Discounted Cash Flows, Internal Rates of Returns, etc.The people who think you can't calculate the future somehow missed the education which clearly has financial formulas that are designed for that.I am hoping the readers of this post really try to think about why there are formulas like FUTURE VALUE (FV)....... is that just something in someone's imagination?!

It is helping you weed out bad tenants.If they are not financially responsible enough to save that tiny amount of money they are just a breeze in the wind away from not being able to pay the rent.

If you go this route you'll need some pros on your team - a Qualified Intermediary for 1031s, a tax man, and fiduciary financial planner to help with the ins and outs of the trust.

I ran the numbers on a condo I own and I realize it is underperforming financially compared to a home I recently bought.