Once that's outta the way, they'll give you a completion certificate that is essentially your golden ticket to take the state & national exam.

The purpose for this rule is to provide a consumer with direct access to a broker or manager without the necessity of first contact the agent.Additionally, both Maryland law and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Code of Ethics prohibit licensees and REALTORS® from advertising in a misleading or untruthful manner.

Each state has different rules on what you can and cant do and the national association of realtors has ethic rules to that you need to be following.

There are national and international private lenders here in the states.  

I knew this would cost way more than she could pay if I went to a national company, so I hired a friends husband to do the work.

The age difference is crucial, particularly when you have a woman dealing with men whose cultural background may not have prepared them to see a women as their equal.  

Listen here:http://Biggerpockets.com/show65Also, every week I reveal to BP Nation how my real estate business is doing.

So I just wanted to share my findings:Prices per piece at 2500pcs seems to be about even among national print companiesNational print companies include design fees, locals do not and charge $75+ an hour with expected costs around $150-250Fiverr.com is full of excellent graphic designs who can design business cards, post cards, logos etc for $5-$50In order to print the addresses correctly the post card will have to be of a paper type that works with my printer, aka laser toner paper matte (not glossy)Whenever I have printed post cards in the past it has been a lot of work to get the spacing right, I end up throwing away 10-50 until I figure it outBecause the post card is small there tends to be 'angling' issues with my printer and sometimes the text comes out at 10-20 degree angleIt might be better to print on labels instead of the post card directlyNational companies will often pay/provide a list for you, locals do not and charge $35 or moreYou can get free lists from your local title companies since most (mine do) have access to county records.

(as mentioned above, competing with national builders is very difficult) What is the local economy like?

I would stay to the area around Southpoint, zip 27703, I think.For lenders, if you are a member of a local credit union, I would make an appointment with a loan officer to see what they can offer and also check with a regular bank mortgage and a national mortgage company.