I think I need a reality check on a few items and hoping someone can give some advice.

Another architect here, and I'm not trying to discourage you but to give you a reality check about becoming an architect through a couple pointed statements. 1 - Architecture, as a regular 8-5 job, is not going to make you wealthy 90% of the time.

The reality is it takes a lot of marketing dollars to find deals.

The reality is that your architect should be able to work with you to hit the budget that is laid out. 

I’ve finally bought into the reality that this buying a house as I save the 20-25% down payment thing isn’t what I want to do.

Somebody there will probably be willing to sit down with you and compare them to reality.

@Nicholas Reyes Ok man here is the reality, you need to sell this place.

Another way I'm making my dream a reality.

Yes, turnover can be insane (ask me about the time I turned over 5 units in 7 days- brutal) but!

We conclude the conversation by agreeing that X+7 is the goal but they should tell the seller X+12, so the listing agent can be the hero in the non-investor non-landlord seller's eyes when it closes on X+7 because they "diligently and continually followed up with the lender" (in reality we're maybe texting cat memes back and forth).