As far as Baltimore, the city has some nice areas that have been mentioned above, but all thing equal im partial to the suburbs, Howard, Anne arundal and Baltimore county in particular. 

I would rather pay more and get all the numbers than less, but only get one number, which I believe their staff told me is only a mobile number.

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. 

Feel free to inquire about their staff qualifications if it's a larger organization.2.

Happy to make an intro to the CS Outsource answering service team that does our late-night support.They help with 24/7 emergency support, overnight coverage, troubleshooting issues, dispatching approved vendors & local staff, tracking and managing maintenance work orders, and other back-office tasks.

Too many red tape bureaucracies, local staff challenges, building management issues.

Paying wait staff $2.13 an hour as they do in Mississippi is an abomination.

Feel free to inquire about their staff qualifications if it's a larger organization.2.

He's impartial and is a great resource for all real estate investors and service providers - and it's fair to say he can be the same for you. 

And keep in mind, those others had a profit motive for seeing it appraise as it did, they were not impartial.