As someone else pointed out, out of control consumer debt is a symptom of the problem, which is no self-control or sacrifice, (A Want It Now Mentality).

It has the net effect of putting us all into a scarcity, rather than an abundance mentality.

The math is simple mental math and useful.

Its been a highly competitive world the last 4-5 years and that brings out the "dog eat dog" mentality.

It will not be easy, but if you stick with it, I'm confident that you'll find REI worthwhile.Growth always works, like nature, according to established lines (ex. seeds to not turn into trees overnight; they evolve always according to similar stages of growth).Remember...Definite Plans + Faith + Emotion + Action = All human accomplishmentDefinite Plans: your mental roadmapFaith: Believing in yourself and others and that you can accomplish your goalEmotion: You must feel strongly / KNOW you will accomplish your goalAction: Plans not applied through action leads nowhere. 

There are a ton of reasons they could just be mentally done and want out.  

Some people have the mentality that the first deal does not need to make money and just needs to be a learning experience. 

@Tony Kohnle  well I was being somewhat factious  I work in the cash flow rust belts so I understand the west coast landlord mentality better than most since I have been funding that stuff for almost 20 years.. there is this mind set that cash flow is nirvana and appreciation is for fools..

But if you are mentally prepared for the grind and have a support system in place to fall back on, I say go for it.

I'd like to exhaust my options locally like how someone mentioned venturing out to further out suburbs and whatnot to see if I can find some deals out there.