Calvert Mortgage has some flexible products should you find yourself in a situation. 

Understand that Starbucks doesn't invest in areas where the local population can't afford a "luxury coffee" and you will find very few pawn shops in the best markets.

Realtors like to drive all over town 5 hours a day, and that's cool for folks that are serious, but I think a LOT of you would be a lot more productive if you used something like this as a tool to weed out "not ready today, but maybe someday" from "ya I'm not doing squat, not even leaving my couch."

However, other park operators have done well by rehabbing older homes (assuming the needed repairs are less than $15,000)...in the end, shelter is shelter—especially with the shortage of affordable housing that is available. 

Passive & affordable.

This means I need to buy products that have a good life span but are reasonably priced enough to make a profit.

Or sell it and invest in more syndications or other RE financial products.

Then I had someone tell me that wholesaling may be the most conservative option for me being that I have a wife and 4 kids and can't really afford a lot of risk without sufficient cash saved up.

Like how much $ is a little money, what city Adam intends to buy in, is there continuous income to pay mortgage, etc.If I have to comment in general (as a fellow investor), especially for young people starting out, first consideration is affordability. 

You can get the basics there just not all of the bells and whistles that Corelogic products offer.