The marketing machine must continue, especially in the early-going.  

What about a white noise machine, about 40 bucks.... 

I'm obviously not a savvy real estate purchasing machine.

But if I were you instead of trying to "go it alone" in any part of REI if you are new, find an REI club like @Nathan suggested and find someone to Mentor youe en if you arrange a small fee for a regular time slot to watch them work, an agent, an investor, whoever -- any successful person who's done successful deals and can train you how to think/look, how to select which *type* of REI might be right for you even.

An investor, on the other hand, is someone who has money in the deal, meaning that they either purchased the property or are part of a group that purchased the property, but as you note, an investor can and generally is a broad term.All are investors, but a wholesaler has a specific role in the REI machine. 

I've been checking out Redfin, and with two machines open at on I can check open/active listing on one, then closed sales on the other.

The insurance companie's remediation co did a lot of demo work and set various machines to dry the house.

They will give a free estimate and they bring this machine that they place in the house to see if the house is dropping anywhere.

In my market all homes are sold with appliances, it's rare to see any of the appliances excluded, and when they do it's usually something like their laundry machine that they really like.

You could probably do that with a machine-operated drill, like what is used by well drillers, and just get enough holes drilled to allow the water to penetrate the concrete.