All the sudden I hear the sump pump turn on, followed by a loud BOOM.

As far as being outbid, its pretty common in my market as inventory continues to decrease and property values surge.

New home sales surged in March, beating even the most optimistic forecast by any economics group as buyers excitedly re-entered the market following a temporary pause in activity in February (due to severe winter weather across the US).

It's a huge yard, I worked the rake and wheel barrow for three hours straight and suddenly I couldn't move anymore. 

Which then I come to find out she isn't a CPA, she is a tax professional with an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN), authorizing her to sign federal tax returns.That leads me back to the strategy aspect, if she really did look over my taxes and was a strategist, the interest income I receive for selling one of my businesses shouldn't have all of the sudden change to ordinary income this year which subjected me to self employment tax.  

i think we can all agree that is unbelievably unrealistic…    And now all of a sudden I can’t withdraw my money unless I buy a $10,000 “signal”….if someone can shed light on this I’d love to hear more about it.  

Go to crap all of a sudden!

But all of the sudden, one of these tenant advocacy groups got word of my marketing and things went crazy.

Sill just as many that would suck you dry and spit you out ... that is just human nature ... folks without a conscience still get a RE license, and they don't suddenly grow one after taking an oath on fiduciary responsibility.

Also, now that I have kids, my parent's IQ has suddenly shot way up in my eyes :) As for what you could say to convince them, it may be best to show them rather than tell them, and you can show them through your 1st primary residence, then one property at a time after that (read up on BP about "house hacking") ... this is a good strategy to start with anyway, regardless your parents.Finally, understand that nobody in life gets to do 100% what they love and are passionate about 100% of the time, regardless of if you start with a traditional job or start your own REI company, there are going to be big sacrifices and times when you'll have to "suck it up" and do some things that aren't at all fun or fulfilling as a means to an end.