If you have the budget and can tolerate the expense while you sort out and determine an acceptable ROI from your online and offline efforts you may get past your dependency on bandit  signs and become part of a legitimate established marketing system.You might find some useful material by searching Dan Kennedy's site or others known for direct response marketing.

It's not worth the effort to try to have a rental in a neighborhood like that.

The BBA says the Broker's (aka: agent) obligation to you is to "(a) use Broker's best efforts to assist Client in acquiring property in the market area; (b) assist Client in negotiating the acquisition of property in the market area; and (c) comply with other provisions of this agreement." 

Thanks for our effort.  

I have great difficulty making the effort to come up with ideas on my own.

Even though people kind of laugh at how easy it is to get your license, it is not without a certain amount of effort. 

I have about 30 hrs into this deal with more diligence to follow, all in an effort to know what I was doing.

It's not a guarantee but just things that I would consider.A few positives would be if they can get their stuff together and really put some effort into making the state a business-friendly climate it should have some absolutely explosive growth.

I have found it amazing that from the founder of Bigger Pockets to seasoned investors to newbies... everyone across the board is here with a similar purpose, are willing to answer questions and genuinely want to help others succeed.I could speak all day long about BP but explore and check it out for yourself.

I'd rather do the real estate exam, it's a whole lot less effort.