The market is slower and less competitive so for buying is great during the holidays so listing to sell in the fall works. 

His idea is to help people analyze long term costs faster that others, providing a nice competitive advantage. 

You diligence needs to be trying to pull out if your operator has some competitive advantage that will let them eke out marginally more returns for you, to more than offset the additional fees you are incurring.Of course, with a 1031, the analysis is slightly harder, because you have to factor in the tax savings you are getting through your 1031, relative to taking sale proceeds as taxable and investing in a group that may have lower fees.

You already noted some competition. 

There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself. 

I think the one thing that Airbnb doesn't mention much that is taking away from their business is the spike in direct booking platforms for the top performing hosts and competition from VRBO /Booking.com/Other Niche OTAs.

No appraisal required and very fast funding, competitive interest rates (they get better with your experience as a rehabber and number of loans with the company. 

Many markets are very competitive so you want to think about where your property falls and how you plan to market, stand out, and get bookings. 

But that's a tiny tiny fraction of overlap.

With the townhome, my reservations is the rental competition as the area has many townhomes communities with units bought by investors, but I like the lower taxes and insurance rates.