I went to work in a $1,000 suit and $500 shoes (was pretty much a requirement, was in senior management) and still pulled up in a truck I bought for less than $1,000.  

As a woman, i'd have the same concern if renting, so i put myself in their shoes -- and also because i don't want to be liable as a landlord if something were to go wrong. 

Please keep in mind that many entrepreneurs and investors leverage stable, well-paying W-2 jobs while growing their portfolios and businesses (read the excellent Phil Knight autobiography Shoe Dog for a great example of this.)  

If I was in your shoes I would look for something that needs a lot of cosmetic work.

However, I was just distressed seller myself, so I know what it's like to be in their shoes.

Out of the 50 or 60 books on business and investing that I have listened to in the past 3 years I prescribed more to Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Rich Dad’s Cash Flow Quadrant and Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘B’ Students, Shoe Dog, Pitch Anything, Sell or Be Sold, The 10X Rule, The ABC’s of Real Estate Investing, and the classic The Richest Man in Babylon.

If you don’t like to read, listen or educate yourself than unfortunately you will likely not find much success (although I am sure there are those out there that have succeeded without).Rich Dad Poor Dad, Millionaire Real Estate Investor, Multi- Family Millions (Dave Lindahl), ABC’s of Real Estate Investing, The Book on Rental Property Investing, Hold, The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing, The Due Diligence Handbook for Commercial Real Estate, Millionaire Real Estate Agent, The Book on Managing Rental Properties (Brandon Turner), The Emyth RevistitedCrushing It in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate, Emerging Real Estate Markets ,The ABC’s of Property Management, Wheelbarrow Profits, The One Thing, Outliers, Start with Why, David and Goliath, Chasing Excellence, Extreme Ownership, The Compound Effect, The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster, Be Obsessed or Be Average, The 10x Rule, The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, Am I Being Too Subtle, 48 Laws of Power, Atlas Shrugged, Man’s Search For Meaning, Sapiens, Tools of Titans, Four Hour Work Week, Who Not How, Shoe Dog, Ride of a Lifetime, The Honey Bee, Living with a Seal, 10% Happier, Relentless, Zero to One, Can’t Hurt Me.

Really, it's about positioning yourself as the expert and showing them that you're serious.If I was selling my house and a guy wearing dusty overalls, muddy shoes, had a scruffy beard and smelled like he hasn't had a shower in a few days, started talking to me about real-estate, I would think he knows more about construction than real-estate. 

If you were in my shoes 17 years old, you have to make some money in 2 weeks (not a lot but enough to outpace a $12 dollar hr job), what would you do?

Everybody who lives and owns in OC has been in your shoes at one time or another.