Teach a person to fish instead of giving them a fish and all that.  

You need a license in every state if you are masquerading as a wholesaler but really brokering.These "gurus" who publish ebooks and other stuff on wholesaling drive me nuts.  

spent a lot of time thinking about this and came up with a few ideas..[ ] 100 stamps[ ] Upgrade a fixture in the house[ ] Paint one room of the house, any color but black. [ ] One time 10% percent rent reduction[ ] Babysitting (you have to make all arrangements, up to $35)[ ] 4 Movie tickets[ ] $30 Amazon gift card[ ] A box of mail order item like "nuts/baklava/oranges/etc"[ ] 1 Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory[ ] House cleaning coupon ~ $50

As an investor I  send letters out to people fishing for prospects.

When fishing for money they tend to be lazy.

Understand that it is infinity easier to be a big fish in a small pond. 

Maybe I am not a big enough fish to break into these circles, but I see a lot of inflated ARVs and very conservative renovation estimates assigned to dated properties.

Mike, thanks for your answers - I must sound like a fish out of water here :)

As Joel suggested ear plugs, actually they work very well, at the lake I have bass boats screaming by all hours of the night and especially early in the morning, when it's good fishing weather, it's part of being there, so I'm the one who has to adapt.

Yeah, I agree with Brandon Turner... a blog about your process would be of interest to other investors but I don't think sellers want/need to hear about all the behind the scenes stuff.... its like when you go to a restaurant, do you want to see 20 people sweating and going nuts getting food ready, nah you just want a nice experience and a good atmosphere. lol.