It's hard to recommend areas for you without knowing your budget, investment objectives/criteria, and specifics of what you are trying to accomplish.

It's all about your objectives, risk tolerance, and diversification of your portfolio. 

I felt the sales pitch was full on, all the time.That said, as always, I picked up a VERY few nuggets and made a few contacts which were my objectives for the weekend.

Just wondering what your objective is.

This is something that can be explained pretty easily in a single conversation, but I have found the forums a challenge to hold an objective conversation for this.

PS: I've found that people who are so fussy that they object to popcorn probably won't make good tenants in the first place; what's next...custom paint job, new hardwood floors??

Also it makes a difference is the house is outdated.If it is functional but outdated it will become an expense for the buyer down the road with upgrading to sell to the next buyer.For instance if a home is 1 to 2 years old and you buy you can get away with owning a few years and reselling without pouring a bunch of money into it.If you buy a house that is say 5 to 10 years old and resell in a few years you will most likely have to spend substantial money updating for resale.On the bpo's now they actually make the 3rd party bpo broker/agent (who does not have the listing)sign an electronic from when submitting the report that they have not been influenced nor have they had discussions with any parties relating to the value of the property.The buyers broker,buyer,listing broker,and seller all have an interest to see the sale happen.The BPO person getting paid for a report is just an objective 3rd party.You want to make sure and not overpay for a property.For instance you put in an offer and wait 2 months for acceptance.Meanwhile the market has declined 6% since then and your deal is no longer that great.It's critical to know with a short sale how many mortgages and liens are present.The more to negotiate the more of a long shot of getting approval from all parties and hitting the value needed.

Considering I have never approached someone regarding funding for private money what type of typical questions or objections do individuals have that I have not addressed in my presentation?

This can be offset by actual income earned by the student, what may be allowed is entirely objective and considering the guarantor's assets and credit can be considered too.

We should all be so lucky to get to that point in our lives and she might be there.I will say this, if you put an objectively attractive cash offer on the table and the response is still the same you can surmise there's an emotional attachment or some other non-fiscal reason she doesn't want to sell.