I would ditch your plan to find a killer agent and find your own motivated sellers.

This is the time for the ditch within the valley.

If you are into buying books, ditch the habit and start using your local library.4.

However, the back-end controls were so bad and the HD management of their credit accounts so poor that we eventually ditched it... we now just issue Visa employee cards to our employees instead (with spending limits appropriate to position and that person's responsibility level)If you must deal with someone who is so disorganized that he can't predict costs, the two ways are either to get a HD account or do phone sales with emailed invoices.

Personally, I would ditch the "% rules".

Control the controllable in this situation; you can't really make anyone do anything, but if can figure out why the ugly duckling has come on and off the market for the past three years it could help you tailor your offer to solve a problem the seller has or it may tell you to ditch the deal and run. 

A 401k on the side can be an absolute last-ditch source of funds.

However, what if you can’t afford to ditch your day job yet, or are already working in real estate?

However, the buyer is using FHA backed financing, and FHA does not allow the pressure treated wood to touch ground (even though it is rated for such) but instead I have to dig a 4 in ditch around the foundation and fill it in with gravel.

The first two I had to ditch as their service was poor.