We have obviously have unreasonable neighbor, he copy and paste from the internet he found that said * Regardless of if there is property damage, a land owner may sue he neighbor to make that neighbor trim the branches that encroach the landowner's property. ( we had respond and cut down the trees. so done). * serious harm caused by encroaching tree limbs or tree root may give rise to a lawsuit.

FHA has some unreasonably strict standards for inspection.

Unfortunately the home prices around my area is, well, a bit unreasonable so I was looking to invest in in properties in out of state.

IE. she cannot just make unreasonable demands and expect you to fulfill them.You mention California is a very tenant friendly state and I see you are in Milburn.

It seems that $450k is unreasonable given the numbers presented so far.  

How do I get over the hurdle of convincing investors to take me seriously with their money?

We cleared the last of the PIA hurdles and should close in the next few weeks. 

Sure in theory the owner just signs a piece of paper saying you can take over ownership and he'll just up and walk away, as long as you pinky promise to pay the mortgage every month, but I guarantee you that there will be more unexpected hurdles coming. 

If the hope is to spin off extra money to buy rentals, that isn't unreasonable, but the focus to start should be on flipping houses only because that will be the thrust of your work for at least several months to start.

The biggest hurdle was convincing the appraiser that I had added enough value to the property to do the cash out portion of the refinance.