Have you tried attending any local Real Estate Investor meetings?

In an up and down configuration, you may have an upstairs unit that gets very hot.Showings/Turnover scheduling.  

welcome to biggerpockets it's great to meet fellow investors from the area

We can meet to discuss this further. 

The money from the hard money lender was not going to be available in time to meet the seller's deadline (I'd already paid him $500 for a two-week extension), so I cashed in my IRA and borrowed money from my parents to buy the house.

Looking forward to meeting more of you in the forums and in my local area.

The two managing partners left egg on our face when they were placed into direct contact with the Sellers, and just disappeared from all communication when they claimed to want to schedule a walk through. 

I like to make mine on an amortization schedule like a mortgage so that i am paying it down the same way, PITI (principal interest tax and Insurance).

Here are some good places to start: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet- find and connect with other BP members that are in your area.http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts - Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you.And, of course thehttp://www.biggerpockets.com/forums - ask any question about real estate!

Just wanted to let you know that we have an awesome local investor meet-up every third Thursday of the month at Zocolo's in Shreveport.