One approach could be to reach out to tax professionals in other states with lower costs of living, as they might provide quality services at more competitive rates.

Secondly on a single location policy who is everyone finding to have the most competitive costs?

They have competitive rates and I’m familiar with their branches as well as their online platform.

The pre-qualification letter only says they've quickly looked at your application and think they can do the loan - not good enough in a competitive market.Some listing agents are requiring the buyer be pre-approved by the agent's lender of choice. 

A key takeaway from this deal was the importance of acting quickly in a competitive market.

There are so many short term places today that competition is tough, so adding something no other property has, being creative in design, something like that to stand out, people want a unique stay, and with a fixer-upper, you can do whatever you want!

I'm leery of the find investor friendly agents tab as I did that with lenders last summer and my phone started blowing up within 2 minutes of hitting the button and was getting constant calls all day.

How does it compare to the competition?

They may close fast in competitive markets, with an LTV ratio ranging from 65% to 75 percent.

You need every competitive edge you can get to have maximum exposure.