Call me naive (I'm not a real estate investor and probably never will be; my interest is from a business model and value creation standpoint), but it seems to me that embracing a major paradigm shift away from wholesaling in favor of options could bring more discipline, fairness, and respectability to the process.Let me try to explain using your example. 

No, I'm planning to embrace the grind and work like no one else to one day  be worth as much as no one else. $800 will hopeful be like buying a bottle of water one day.I know man, STRs are a great solution to this problem but California in general is starting to be a hard place to live with taxes and limited options.

If the numbers work for you and your goals it's ok to feel a little scared but then to embrace that and dive in anyway! 

After 10 weeks of fake photos, updates and locking me out of my own house I embraced the truth and fired him.

The newer generations have embraced the word "Deserve".  

Its maddening but I remember that one of the reasons I'm successful Is their lack of professionalism, so its a double edge sword that I now embrace. 

However, this embraces a vast area. http://us.spindices.com/indices/real-estate/sp-cas...Do people buy these two flats places thinking they will make any money?

Instead of avoiding the thought of death, I embrace it, and that puts a lot of things in perspective.

Hopefully, a wholesaler with some knowledge and ability in my market will approach me, in which case I will embrace him/her.

If that is not you, it is ok, embrace it, and find what you ARE and what way to best invest as that.