Wholesaling is attractive model but like everything else it take commitment and consistency.  

Can they provide you their T-12 ?

I had much more success on the appraisal side, but now I'm doing bookkeeping and consulting for real estate investors.If you commit to learning and growing, I believe you will have much success, and a couple decades in, you will likely have more experience than most real estate professionals at the age of 39. 

We talked about what it would look like to join their community, but after a good back-and-forth, I realized I’m not quite ready to commit financially to a fee-based group just yet.

Carrying on financing related activities for a fee, like providing loan commitments places you under finance regulations.

If you live in a city, surely no one thinks the cops just happen to see all crimes being committed? 

I know it won’t happen overnight, but I’m committed to putting in the work and learning along the way.My plan is to start with fix and flips to build up capital, and then invest into some long-term buy-and-hold properties once I’ve built a solid foundation.

If someone committed murder, was convicted, and spent time in jail THREE DIFFERENT TIMES... what do you think that they are going to do next time they get out of prison?

Quote from @Henry T.: I hope things go easy for you in California.

Before you commit to a single-family home in any specific zip code, I strongly recommend running a competitive analysis.