My next step was to tell everyone I knew that I was a real estate investor and send them a package I prepared in PowerPoint (turned into a PDF) that detailed my target market, business plan, estimated timeline to purchase, rehab, and sell, and how a sample deal would be structured.I was able to get two family friends to commit over $20,000 with one of them committing to multiple investments. 

@Horacio Maldonado congrats on making the commitment.

Get 3x as many capital commitments as you need to raise.

I live up in North Phoenix and also have a prior commitment.

Sorry, your competition is 24/7, if you don't want to commit, don't waste your time until you're in a position where you can.

As followers of Biggerpockets, I am sure we've all heard the term "analysis paralysis"If you haven't, this refers to not being able to commit to a property because you are too tied up in the numbers, and often results in losing the deal, or flat out walking away. 

If you are not ready to commit to a Roth, you could look at just doing a brokerage account.

But is it reasonable to expect that a person who is committed to the time and effort that this business requires will succeed? 

I would like to be able to read something that explains how the numbers work for things like actual real estate deals, taxes, buying and holding, and/or anything else I am probably missing.One of the best books on the 'math' behind real estate is:What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow...But you need to figure out what strategy you want to commit to first, and then learn math specific to that strategy. 

Yeah, I hate being the bad guy, but am committed to doing what’s best for my business.