Lisa's Time to Shine

Hello. I am Lisa. I have spent the last 30 years of my life, raising 3 amazing children basically by myself, who are now productive members of society with families of their own.
I spent most of my life working for someone else, sometimes 2-3 jobs, to pay the bills and make ends meet. It meant being away from my children and missing many of life's precious moments. In the last 10 years, I had a wonderful career in Healthcare, where I was able to make a positive difference in patients lives, everyday. I worked really hard and those above me enjoyed promotions and raises as a result. I also traveled, a lot, and the fast paced always on the road lifestyle, took a toll on my health and my relationships.
I lost that job 13 months ago. Since then, my health has improved and my relationships are stronger and healthier. Then, my mother broke her back. I find myself now as a parent to my parents. While she is healing and back at home, after 11 months in the hospital and long term care setting, I still am drawn to assist with daily activities that my aging father is not able to do. They live an hour + away, so this has been my full time job since Jan. 2013.
Then in August, Dean Graziosi and his wonderful staff found me. They said, Be in charge of your own destiny, the best way to predict the future, is to Create it. And I hit the ground running. After the initial 3 day workshop I was a wild woman, networking trying to build my power team, interviewing RE Agents (went through 9 right out the gate) reading books, learning the software and starting my new life. I finally found a Realtor, who is an investor and we clicked. He talked a great game and was eager to teach me. I signed an exclusive agreement with him which only a week later, proven to be a no-no.
I attended the Boots on the Ground Training. As is my nature, a goal of 25 bandit signs was placed for me on night one, so I made 45 signs and placed 31. The phone started ringing. I can do this. After the BOG Training, I was on fire! I placed ads on CL and made more signs and began my buyers list, qualifying buyers and was really excited when I had 11 on my list, and another 15 that were not quite ready to buy.
Las Vegas!!!! The buying summit was amazing. I learned so much and met some really great people. I got my Veil package to set myself up safely and came home ready to roll. My Mentor Randy came to town the following week and reinforced what I was doing right and redirected my energy into more suitable neighborhoods to target. He met my Realtor and confirmed why you do not sign an exclusive. I put signs out to generate buyers and sellers,,,but no calls. I found a couple of properties that would be Great Deals, but had no buyers for that area. After a couple of weeks with no investor calls from that area, I decided to start again a little closer to home. Hey, if it worked for Matt Larson, I will work for me.
So I put out my signs, went to auctions and started to develop a buyers list. With 10 qualified buyers, stating they wanted to buy and hold in my home town, ready to roll in 3-4 weeks, I contacted a tired landlord, who is getting ready to retire. As luck would have it, he had two properties in the same neighborhood he was willing to part with that met several of my buyer criteria (or so I thought). Cool Beans. He offered them as a package deal. So I ran the numbers, and both were Great Deals for a buy/hold strategy. My market has a very slow resale market and the local Redevelopment and Housing department is desperate for rentals. I was able to get the properties under contract. Before the ink was dry, I sent pictures and emails to each of my investors with details on Section 8 rental #s, showing each property would generate a 30% cap rate. The investors should be all over this.
Nope. Each one had a reason, tax increase of $.04 at the first of the year, neighborhood, heating system (oil) etc. I put out more signs in the neighborhood and placed ads on CL. While I got quite a few (65+) calls, no takers on my properties. I was insightful enough to put a 15 day inspection by partners contingency clause in the contracts, just in case, and sadly, today I have called the seller and used my contingency to back out of the deal.
I have refined my existing buyers criteria to meet their newest expectations and will begin again with my signs and ads, but as you can imagine, I am a little sad. I did learn a lot from the experience which will help me going forward, but I am feeling disappointment.
So,,,,,today I start again. Focusing on adding more buyers to my list. I am researching a few properties that meet the criteria requested, but I am really going to pound the pavement for seasoned investors.
I know this was a Really Long first post, but I wanted to get everything that has happened down before I go farther down the path to success.
I welcome any and all tips, comments and encouragement anyone has to offer.
I CAN AND WILL DO THIS!!!!