There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself. 

I'd also look into his specific college/university and see if they have a business major that concentrates on real estate. 

My name is Jonah Rupe, I go to school here in Lubbock at Texas Tech University getting my BBA with a concentration in project management as well as a construction engineering minor.

I’m a recent graduate from community college and currently a senior at George Mason University, majoring in Information Technology with a concentration in cloud computing.

This lead to 3 years of very profitable success as a real estate broker, until having made some highly profitable deals I decided to quit the real estate “business” and concentrate on “investing” full time.Biggest “TAKEAWAY”: Most business owners and most sales people have a hard time turning down ANY piece of business.

The current concentration of most in that space is trying to hold long term.

Market OverviewThe Los Angeles office market is comprised of 210.4 million square feet in twenty-one geographic concentrations ranging in size from the 38.9 million square foot Downtown submarket to the Mid-Cities submarket, which accounts for 1.8 million square feet.

Buy where taxes are low on rental properties, populations are growing, economies are growing, and there are at least two of the following: Gov spend, Major healthcare, transportation hubs, universities, sports teams, industry concentration, tourism, manufacturing.

And concentrate the cash into one of them leaving it available for you to do an eash cash out refi.If you can't or don't want to do a 1031 then make a priority list of your properties and sell the one that - brings in the least cash, you've owned the shortest amount of time (so least depreciation) and has the greatest equity. 

Hello Mark, I'm a real estate agent in Pennsylvania, specifically concentrating on the Western Pennslyvania market.