But I am sensing major inexperience, lack of due diligence and just a bunch of red flags in general. 

If you want to vet an agent before deciding to hire them, call their broker and ask for a list of all their transactions in the past 5 years (keeping in mind that longevity is no guarantee of quality, and inexperience does not necessarily indicate a lack of quality). 

Combined with my inexperience and my age, it's easy to begin fearing that you are going to get taken advantage of and ripped off. 

What you lack in experience you'll need to make up for in knowledge.

That second point is definitely due to our inexperience and being excited to pull the trigger.

You have posts where you are looking to by your first property and when you are taken to task in this thread change your profile in that you indicated your inexperience. 

We started in real estate a couple of years ago and due to our inexperience we decided on an ultra conservative strategy in the form of all cash purchases.

I have seen some interesting places in my search though, places that seem to have "Good bones" but need a lot of work, and honestly because of my inexperience, I have decided FOR NOW they aren't for me- but I'd like to learn more about major rehab work for the future. 1.

This part of your post screams inexperience. 

I remained ignorant of my inexperience.