One was with a national bank and the other was with a local regional bank. 

Moving to a lower cost region is one possible strategy for retirement.When I lived in Silicon Valley, my stock broker there told me his wealthy clients would sell their private companies and real estate investments at retirement and deploy the money in the stock and bond markets (which he and other investment advisors would manage for them).Would anyone like to share their views on what they have done or plan to do when they retire so that i can understand my realistic alternatives?

Andrew Acuna Have you looked at regional/local banks?

Credit Unions and regional banks may also be places to search as they tend to be a little friendlier than the big box banks.

I would use this for properties that I buy which are in geographic regions where I don't live.  

I have a friend/colleague that is interested in their services (they are regional to certain areas) and just wanted to see if the community could shed some light on their experiences with them. 

If you talk to your local lenders (smaller/regional banks or credit unions) about portfolio lending (sometimes called blanket lending), you may be able to finance the entire portfolio with a single note (registered against the title of all properties).  

@Andrew Hughes For me it's not an issue but my experience has taught me that property management fees can be regionalized.  

People don't really need to utilize their space as much as more concentrated areas so having a unit or bedroom in the basement is far from desirable in most cases.However, personally, I would only add that if you planned on renting it or utilizing it to off-set your costs, otherwise, to me, it's kinda like painting a room bright purple in hopes of finding someone who loves the color and buys it just for that.

Hello BP, I keep hearing from books and others that you want to master the city/region where you will be investing.