Your number will grow exponentially, not linearly and your blind spots are expenses that you are too frugal to manage today but will eat at a higher price tomorrow.The goal should be to eliminate expenses via consolidation, have multiple sources of income, and carry low risk(debt). 

I have ideas of how to meet my goals and step my foot through the door of RE Investing but with my lack of experience I would be very grateful if there is anyone in my area (Lake Wylie, SC/ Charlotte, NC) with more experience and willing to sit down for 10-30 minutes with me and help me get over the fear factor of taking that first step, and help me feel comfortable to be able to take action and start the journey.

I want to contribute and deliver value where I can, I just want to get my foot in the door.

Ingress/egress is considered, other tenant mix to draw foot traffic, exclusive use clauses, pylon signage, visibility, parking ratios, etc all matter. 

I see the money but can't get my foot in the door. 

When you start reading about this and searching the internet one thing I find is true... there are many LLC formation services that claim to do a bunch of stuff, several of them sell expensive "education" packages which just get a foot in the door to sell more services, and other do-it-yourselfers (legal zoom)ut.  

@Scott ScovilleHi Scott, I completely agree that the prices in California such as San Jose has completely sky rocketed, which makes it impossible for me to get my foot into the door comfortably.

And we purchased this property having never stepped foot in Portugal before.  

Here's our thinking: we can conservatively build multifamily for $200 a foot including land acquisition.

I overpaid by $40K because I knew it was my way to get my foot in the door of commercial residential investing.