Have you tried attending any local Real Estate Investor meetings?

This is literally damaged our standard of living, and is flat out embarrassing.

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.

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!

It works out well because the deal flow is all investors, and you don't get the same thing at the standard brokerages. 

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.

Feel free to contact me with any questions at Nine one too six 55 six six 33 or curtisb1968 at Gmail.com Also the local Real Estate Investor Alliance (REIA) meeting meets every second Monday of the month at 6:30pm usually at the Hilton Garden Inn in Midtown 5711 Abercorn St, Savannah, GA 31405.