If you aren't sure, I would study other sucessful players in your local market and on BP and determine what "niche" of the market do you want to carve out for yourself.

Although oil is still a big player in OKC, there have been substantial increases in other industries like aviation, health care, tech startups, and entertainment that I think will help balance out the power. 

It is a good way to network and get to know real estate players in your area.

Craigslist (it's still a very active player in the rental market - and if you can afford to you should partner with advertisers that build CL codes for you) 4.

are you listening to them on the player from the website?

The key is to provide value, which is why a lot of the big players will offer coaching, because what you pay them is the value you provide.

I don't really know who are the players in Bellingham, if any big ones.

There is always the risk of loss but so far it has worked out well and allowed me to get some good returns and be a passive player in real estate.  

I had a semi pro football player living in a unit of mine and he ended up being addicted to hard drugs...it wasn’t steroids.

Similar to when a football coach tells his players to "remember this feeling" after a big loss so they can assure it won't happen again, remember the feeling of having to pay rent and be sure that in your (hopefully near) future you can transition to the other side of things as a landlord and escape the tenant life.I think for now you need a serious look at your situation.