I'm 33, still young, and willing to do the hard work, cold calling, emails, etc. 

One, you might want to consider Seller Financing (in Michigan, we call it a Land Contract) which can allow you to buy property while using the Seller as Banker; not all Sellers are open to this, but it can be beneficial to both the Buyer and Seller.

These are the practical questions I think about when I hear a lot of chatter about this illusive thing called accountability.

I cold call and go direct to the seller and I have a 3 person team that pretty much just calls all day long for me.

Go search the topic "Lifestyle Asset University" here on Bigger Pockets and you will see a longer thread with a lot of opinions (most are not members) but still worth a read as there are a half a dozen paid members from our group who have commented on that thread.We were formerly called Lifestyle Asset University, but I didn't realize that you couldn't use the word University in your company name here in Utah so we changed our name to Vodyssey. 

Quote from @Russell Brazil:  yep that does it, we lost our home in 99 in an f5 when I was younger,  no close calls recently in OKC though,  also seems like tornado alley has shifted a bit to the east but who knows.

This would be something I would want to call and talk about first.

Higher assets or cash in the bank increases what is called you compensating factors which banks/lenders use to qualify.

The reason for this email is that we need to schedule a call with a representative about our direct deposits to our bank account, we keep having the same problem every month.

Call me.