Mentor or Competitor?

[Account Closed]

I want to move from being a buy and hold, or house hacker I guess, to a flipper. I have started attended our local REI meeting, doing lots of reading on here and books, and trying to build my team. However, the one question that sticks in my mind when I want to ask other investors for referrals of good investor friendly agents or contractors, or even just for advice, is - don't other real estate investors see each other as competitors, really? If the market isn't a big city market, then why would another investor want to share his "secret agent" or "great contractor" with me, helping me with finding leads and doing my flips? It seems counter-intuitive that they would give me tips to access their same agents or contractors as it seems we would then be competing for the same deals from the agent, priority time with the contractor, etc. Are they really going to be that willing to help someone doing the same thing as them? Thoughts?