How do we move from being $20K short on our offers to being the ones who get the deals?

[Amanda Fox]

My husband and I have been pursuing real estate investing for a few years and have never been able to close a deal. My husband is a real estate broker and my background is in architecture and construction management. My husband is a real estate broker and plans to be the realtor on both ends of the deal. We have been looking solely on the MLS for deals and have been in and out of escrow 6 or so times. We have had to back out each time because our rehab costs end up being higher than estimated and we realize that if we had put in the offer that made sense it wouldn't have been accepted. So... my husband is leaving his main job as a pilot, we are moving to Denver in a couple of months with 6 mos living expenses and are making a go at being fulltime real estate investors. We only need to close 1 deal in the first 2 mos to continue and can build from there. Our end goal is to flip between 5 and 10 houses at a time and if the inventory is too low in our area to branch out to other areas in our state or others. We are planning to follow the MLS, put up bandit signs, buy car wraps for our cars, and direct mail to distressed homes. Please give us any advice you can to direct us in the right way and how we can best use our time before we get there.