Dose anyone have any tips on studying the real estate exam in Michigan I am completely lost.

The credentials of the POF letter will be examined, or at lease I sure would.A POF from Fidelity or some Credit Union would be accepted at face value, while some HML unknown to me would be vetted as much as I would for a tenant rental application, ie: what we see may not be what we get.

Then I spoke to some local residents/realtors and examined some stats on zillow for recent sales, and their prior sales - and the market has stayed flat, or even declined while the rest of the country has enjoyed the recovery last 4 years.I have some rentals in California, and while I dont expect CA type appreciation, the flat to negative trends seemed worrying, and indeed puzzling given the beauty I find in the area, the high quality of construction, and the solid employment fundamentals.Any opinions on why prices are falling?

I examine the email contents to extract pertinent information in regards to the property.

Not only should you not fall for this hijinx on behalf of the broker, you should also examine the leases, what their present rents are, and how many of the units were very recently rented, and to whom. 

Especially the last sentence (in bold below) landlords must examine closely their neutral policies and practices, which may have an unintended discriminatory effect thus exposing the landlords to liability.

I would look at lowering your rent and/or examine how you are marketing the place to attract better tenants.  

Examine the options and invest accordingly.

In my opinion, you might want to re-examine your PM Agreement.

Hmm, two bank examiners participating in the same thread.