Besides the most obvious that folks aren't accredited, most folks that didn't invest w/me the first time had a variety of logical reasons. 

As far as the dog goes the tenant had a card saying the dog was a certified ESA dog but I could find no accreditation service that certifies these dogs so it could have easily been a card off of the internet.

Networking to find accredited investors is the hardest part of any startup.

I am even an accredited stager.

I would say at least 90% of our clients sell off their rentals as they get into their 60s and invest in notes.. at that point they are far more educated in how it goes on both sides of the equation.but at the end of the day its what you understand and are comfortable. with.But as you mention there are alternatives  REITS being one.. if accredited  going in with some top shelf syndicators will get you a 6 to 8% coupon.... and most rentals at the end of the day won't do any better. 

The reason we used them was they handled a lot of the organizing of the webinar, verifying accredited investors, the paperwork, the set up, etc.

As an engineer I suggest putting your head to the grind stone for 3-6 years and make money so you rise above the noise of wholeselling and flipping so you can be almost accredited investor.

The first question is: are you accredited or nonaccredited?

These deals require being accredited, and also a relationship with someone on the GP side of the deal.

There are now crowdfunding sites for real estate, but on almost all of those you need to be an accredited investor, which means you need to have (not sure I have the exact numbers here) verifiable income over 300k a year or a net worth of at least a million.