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.

I am currently skimming my marketing and only marketing to houses I can afford which means I am missing out on a lot of potential houses.

If you can afford to buy something, anything even it is a small one bedroom condo, everyone in the world should buy at least one condo/house for themselves to live in.  

I am employed and can definitely afford the mortgage by myself.

Of course, there will be a premium attached for their work, and you can expect to pay cash or equivalent (hard money or line or credit), but this is still a great choice for someone who doesn't want to (or can't afford to) do all the work of marketing to find motivated sellers.