Work from home has to be an option for most who have those capabilities eventually as it could be tough to recruit good talent. 

Since I will not be a salaried employee of the company until I've proven my capabilities,  I will need to rely on fees and profits on sale secured by a partnership agreement. 

If you want an agent to bring you deals rather than someone else in his/her sphere: be specific about what you are looking for(this is huge, people tell me all the time to send them deals without telling me what that means to them), show that you are capable of buying, be ready to pull the trigger if they bring you a great deal, be respectful of their time and listen to their advice.Hope that helps & good luck!

The mother is in her 60s, wealthy, and is very capable of making the payments, so we strike up an agreement.

YOU have to right the ship sometimes or its gonna sink!

That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy, but it does mean you are taking on more risk, and being new to this industry you should be looking to minimize risk since you will be less capable of dealing with unforeseen problems.All that being said, yes I am sure there are hard money lenders and other ways to get this deal done.  

Are you ready and capable of buying such property? 

What else is he capable of when he gets properly likkered up?

So theoretically (and based on what we've seen in real life) my tenants are just as financially capable of paying rent. 

When I moved back to the USA it made sense for me to step in and take over from my father who is a full time school teacher and no longer capable of doing the required work to run the business.