You gambled - you lost.

If you advertise "COME HERE TO SAVE ON BROKER FEES" of course your data will show that people who show up on your web-doorstep want to save on broker fees...

@Paul Hofius if you want to go the online route I would recoomment Career Web School.

Most of the big brokerages have there on "proprietary" web sites... player like CBRE, Marcus millichap, etc.members.brevitas.com seem to be all there own stuff.

My husband is a web developer and we're always discussing ways to solve real estate pain points with tech...trying to come up with an idea to develop into an app.

Developing a track record takes time but that can be enhanced with purposeful creation of your own business web site, blogging, podcasts, newsletters, books, networking events, etc.

I don't recall a city taking it harder on the chin than Vegas did, a place driven by gamblers and gambling.  

I don't invest for appreciation, that is gambling.

Every time that you refinance, you pay those costs and gamble on whether the property will appraise.

As was mentioned, seller may not be motivated enough, or not really get that their property isn't worth it...You could ask a ton of questions and just listen to see their timelines / if they are motivated.You could also give them 2 offers-- each with appraisal contingencies and say "I can pay via a loan but the appraisal has to match" if the thing is truly high, you can gamble (it if it's not off the wall price-wise.)Second offer could be: "I need you to hold the note."