I was told to stick with smaller/regional banks because you can build a personal relationship with people and that will be worth something in the future.

The strip centers I see that struggle with lease up have a bad build design, poor access, not enough parking, bad sight lines from the road, low income area with all mom and pop tenants with weak financials versus regional and national tenants etc.   

Kyosaki's free seminars in Toronto next Thursday. 

@Megan Tapia What does around Toronto mean to you?

If you ever want to talk about possibly joining up to do some larger properties in the NC region let me know! 

I'm a local investor and very active wholesaler in the Philadelphia region, feel free to connect anytime.Best,David B

It's nice to hear about people working toward their RE goals in my region.  

I called a few smaller regional banks to inquire about portfolio lending but was told that the owner occupancy % is an issue for them as well.

My suggestion would be to hone in on 2-3 neighborhoods in the region that interest you and start checking out what is available.

See the latest from the BLS http://www.bls.gov/regions/southwest/summary/blssummary_houston.pdf It answers @Hersh M.'