It's great to see how the South African community is growing here.

I know one wholesaler who learned from wholesalers in others areas (perhaps from Bigger Pockets), specifically New York City, that in Houston the acquisition cost per house is multiple times more expensive in Houston due to the immense competition.  

Parroting, "Get a local attorney" is not.I for one have benefitted immensely by what others have written on these boards so that I at least had some background and knew at least some questions to ask before consulting with a local professional (be it an attorney, contractor, etc.) on certain issues, which proved to be invaluable to me.  

I'm a full time investor and agent in the area, and BP has helped me out immensely.

A small caveat, I am on site every day for a good portion of the day which helps immensely in the process, if you are hands off it could lead to a longer process.  

The poor butt-hurt person you sent your letter to was not in their right mind about this, they have probably been victim to scams in the past or thought you were a South African prince in need of money.When at the Rip-Off Report website you can file a rebuttal or request a VIP Arbitration (starts about $2000.00) the information is all on the ROR website and in about 30 seconds you can resolve this...

as an African American man who has been investing for 15yrs in buy and holds in the North East, New York, Philadelphia and Jersey, I can tell you from my experiences race is very much a factor in many ways.

Granted, I only speak from personal experience in purchasing short sale, of all the short sale opportunities I have encountered, I have only captured 2 maybe 3, all of them took an immense amount of time and I thought they would never happen.

I too have found the podcasts immensely useful, and the books too.  

However many of the guides on here have helped me immensely, and I went under contract on my first property last week.