I do realize that this was my mistake since I wasn't aware of the letter of estoppel.

I'm a very jovial, happy-go-lucky kind of person so I hate to see the worst in people.

I'm no veteran agent or a million-dollar producer (yet) but I have learned a ton by making my own mistakes as well as watching what the great, and not so great, agents in my office do. 

You say you're buying at 60% ARV but one of the biggest mistakes beginners make is property valuation.  

Yes, these deals were at the top end of the range, but there are many to be had with an easy 40k plus profit, even allowing for a worst case rehab.As this section is called 'creative financing', I was wondering if anyone had some thoughts as to a potential way around the problem?

Realistically though, i would not give too much value as on resale you will be hard pressed to get maximum value on all thatI think if you paid 385 for this think that would be a big mistake.

Perhaps most encouraging, at least to me, is that although many of the guests are now operating multi-million dollar Real Estate businesses, many stated right where I am now―not knowing exactly where/how to start, afraid of making mistakes, etc.Although we live in CA, we are looking to partner with my wife’s oldest son, who lives in CO.

I plan to do what I read here and make offers that  are so low it would embarrass the most seasoned investor, what's the worst that could happen...they say no and I haven't lost a thing...but what if they say yes because they "hate" the money pit and they would pay me to take it..

It's a classic investor mistake. 

Nobody is going to mistake the Indy RE market for SF.