I sent out some letters and I got a call back from a lady.

A financing contingency will protect you but it will also make your offer less attractive to the seller.

If you guarantee them a 10 or 12% return, that is almost always more attractive for a 6 month timeline, even if they are loaning you 5 or 10k.  

A few minutes here and there a handful of times and you would gather some good information to put to use in investing.I had a lady show me a property or two when I started out and fully intended to purchase something but couldn't actually, I later found out, so I had jumped the gun a little bit.

@John JacksonThis lady needs your training in LOs in TX.

I am a middle aged guy (not in crisis mode yet, but heard it involves a fancy sports car, he he) and I feel like my life really started 3 1/2 years ago when I met the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world (no offense ladies).

Thank you ladies for your help!

I thought about doing a private Loan for an investor here in town VS actually have the risk of buying and holding real estate.I was reading the book "private lending profits" by Carney and it looks like a very attractive venture.

So I would guess that a lot of land lords like me scour craigslist trying to get things 50% of new / retail.But Craigslist can be a bit dodgy.Just the other day when i was trying to source just the right sized fridge, I found an older lady on Craigslist who had such a fridge that she was unloading from an estate from her recently deceased mother.

For those who don't know - this charming young (and single, ladies...) man is none other than my own Brother!