The Fed's narrative was no longer clear with regard to additional needed increases; it seems in my view that the priority has shifted from cooling raising inflation and employment to monitoring banking sector stress and credit conditions. 

To illustrate just how the Federal Reserve's 14 months of aggressive interest hikes have chilled a major buyer of the residential real estate market, Redfin shows the record-breaking pullback in the chart below: The brokerage said the investors still in the market have shifted to buying or flipping more affordable properties due to tightening credit conditions.

Welcome to the party and way to shift it up a gear. 

He started working for me about 23 years ago strictly snow plowing and as my business shifted and grew and then has moved strictly to REI he is now my right hand man.

Some of their beliefs are shifting. 

The reason you're experiencing these challenges and "growing pains" that you mentioned in your original post is because you're focused on the wrong thing.Nobody is building a successful, consistently profitable, and sustainable real estate business by focused on what you are focused on (subto, wholesale, novation, etc).I believe if you shift your focus to more practical strategies you will find more success.

There have been a few books that helped me get over the internal struggle lacking confidence to pursue REI early on that I look back on were motivational and anecdotal more than tactical which was exactly what I needed at the time being so foreign to the idea of investing.Personally, reading has been vital from a motivational and strategy building view early on and now having a few years of experience my reading has shifted, but I still look to educate myself on the unknown that I lack real world experience in.

.), so I wouldn’t recommend basing an overall strategy around it, considering the market shifts throughout the year and being aware of them should just be part of a larger overall strategy and basic local market knowledge IMO.  

I have 0 experience with real estate.My why is I want to be able to stop working shift work and spend time with my family.

Consider shifting your focus to a buy-and-hold approach, exploring multi-unit properties, or considering creative financing options like owner financing or subject-to deals.