If you need something to get you really excited, read " How to Be a Quick Turn Real Estate Millionaire: Make Fast Cash with No Money, Credit, or Previous Experience by Ron LeGrand and Mark Victor Hansen" For short sales: Short-Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Buy "No-Equity" Properties Directly from the Bank -- at Huge Discounts (Paperback) by Dwan Bent-Twyford (Author), Sharon Restrepo (Author) Buy at least one of the Weekend Millionaire's Secrets books

He didn't seem willing to share any "Secrets" and said the market is crashing again and we shouldn't invest. 

If you want to know a secret, even though we are licensed, we still use our broker.

Reach out toLocal PMApartment associationsApartments.comcostar if you have accessrentometerShop the market with a secret shopper(have someone call and act like a renter).The issue with all of these is they can't compare the condition of your property to the condition of these lease comps you are gathering.  

If so, would you mind sharing your secrets for finding deals out here?

Networking is one of the most valuable tools an investor can use, to promote deals, to learn new practices and a whole host of other trade secrets.

The only way to make that work here is if you are able to get deep on the inside and find top secret deals somewhere (of which I've only known to happen on the commercial side here).

Account Closed is right, its hard to keep the contents a secret and many people probably know about this.  

Og Mandino's book The Greatest Secret in the World kept me motivated by keeping me focused on those goals with its daily and weekly exercises that last a year to complete.I also learned the technique of taking a blank sheet of paper every day and writing down my most pressing problem at the top ("find more sellers," "find more buyers," whatever) and then coming up with 20 possible solutions.

And 36 Other Key Financial Measures http://amzn.to/Zv0ZphFrank also has another book called 10 Commandments for Real Estate Investors that I reread every other month or so as a reminder: http://amzn.to/15ikXL0Ken McElroy has two great books on apartment investments and one on property management:The ABCs of Real Estate Investing: The Secrets of Finding Hidden Profits Most Investors Miss http://amzn.to/HdXVf1The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing: How to Identify the Hottest Markets and Secure the Best Deals http://amzn.to/1bcWx50The ABC's of Property Management: What You Need to Know to Maximize Your Money Now http://amzn.to/1d518JKAlso see Ken's BP interview on Podcast 052: Buying Apartment Complexes, etc. here:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/01/09/bp-podcast-052-raising-millions-ken-mcelroy-rich-dad/I think these are the place to start, but there's many more let me know if you'd like to see more.Good hunting-