Do I give up?

hi
my 2 c worth….
try and work out what you are doing wrong and stop
business is designed to teach you what you dont know about yourself ,so be prepared to be way outside your comfort zone

the days of buying any old crap at 5% finance and picking up ( historical advertised ) 9% growth are no longer with us
the better your financing the more chance of doing well ,
you could spend more time in this area than the fun stuff like actually looking at houses

try and find a book with a chapter on the "economic clock" it basically says there are roughly predict able cycles ,which have an effect on intrest rates,house prices and the economy in general
to be a good investor you will be going against the trends so it helps to know where they are going !

for eg i bought my first ip during the internet bubble,my friends shouted at me for my stupidity !
within a year it had doubled in value  (i refinanced and bought another….etc)
my friends persevered with the market

for what its worth i think now is a really good time to buy……IF you can get the finance right

good luck and enjoy the journey