I believe that every business relationship should be mutually beneficial.

Part of it, I believe, is to ensure that they know who they are working with and that they are meeting their ethical, regulatory and legal obligations (e.g. not poaching on an established relationship).

I'm a full-time Realtor here on Maui, from Seattle, and I tell all my clients that my goal is to educate them on our values and provide as much information as I can about the property, neighborhood, historical sales data, current market conditions, etc.  

Our response rates for direct mail up here in Northern Colorado are much lower than they have been historically.

The price points in general tend to be lower, and it has historically been know as more of a working class area with a higher percentage of renters.

Regarding historical performance every project we have done once stabilized has performed at or above our original projections used to sell them in the beginning.

It might not be the best in the world re. appreciation, but everyone has to live somewhere, and if you're stuck in a market that doesn't have great historical returns, you may as well get paid to be there. 

I would work on establishing a relationship with a couple of local banks to make the process smoother.

@Billy Raz working with residential loan officers vs commercial loan officers it seems the commercial guys are more transaction oriented vs (residential) relationship oriented.

@Oommen Eapen there are so many hard money lenders in Houston, I have some relationships with a few.