Do you have a special interest medical, high tech, retail, industrial, etc.

As a newer, and younger, investor one of my greatest assets I have to offer is my time, and I would love to be able to use my time to help and work with others as much as possible while gaining valuable experience of my own and continuing to develop my skills in the industry.  

Yeah, CCIM's are folding because 20 year old gurus have taken over the commercial investment industry

The next is that you want someone incentivized to pay for marketing (professional photography, floorplan, mailers, maybe staging, etc).Depending on where the house is located you'll want it listed on either the REBNY/RLS (which covers western Queens closer to Manhattan) or LIBOR/MLSLI (which covers most of Queens but to the east).

The hipster crowd likes the exposed brick/industrial style and will command a premium over the cookie cutter units. 

For rentals, you just need to find out if it's in a decent area, what the cashflow will be, and what the economy around it is like - is it diverse or is it dominated by only one industry?

you can balk all you want about the agents perspective but success is never handed to you in any line of work. in any industry the hustlers and grinders are rewarded and the others skating by don't last long or learn how to live on raamen noodle and juggle car payments with other debt. 

Currently I work as a industrial painter while my wife is going through the process of joining the Navy here in southern Illinois I have about 60k I've saved I'm 24 and have been looking into getting started in real estate investing.

- That is the primary question most people ask in the real estate industry.

Your experience in both real estate and the banking industry gives us great insight on both industries.