Think of it like ESPN's ranking of the NBA's top 100 players, its an open discussion.

This is a risk and cost  many players don't figure in, even the big players sometimes. 

REIA's are good just sort out the pretenders from the real players. 

Not a great use of your time or resources.. try to find the bigger players and court their business.The big money is made in What Joel does though it takes a lot of apprenticing but if you can crack the commercial world and only work on multi million dollar deals you can make some good money over time.. and it just gets better as you get a deeper book of business.

Who are the big boys/major players who have good reputations? 

Long story short:All american college football player.

@Dana Whicker Yes, I suppose investing *is* gambling, but it's educated gambling and, I suppose, for a veteran poker player, the same holds true. 

A lot of free resources available and big players in the Baltimore investment arena spear head those groups.

But please do go to some local meet ups, get to know the players and network.

You may want to visit your local real estate investment club and talk to some key players.