If most of your competition has a pool, I'd go that route and try to add something indoors like a game room.

As many have said, there are pros and cons to both short- and medium-term rentals, but I've found that Nashville is still a competitive market for each! 

Nonetheless, it is frowned upon, competitive, and it's not something you should do alone.

We've got one right now on Chatham that's under contract on which our client should do pretty well.The $150k-$225k is popular, but sourcing due to competition is the challenge.

The advantages to those are that there are less restrictions, less competition and lower purchase price. 

Also, would y'all agree with my realtor that a new construction home is a viable path forward, considering the competitiveness of the local market? 

Have you compared it to your competition?

It's good that smaller banks, financial institutes are competitive.

Specifically, we are looking for tips on how to secure deals for fix-and-flip projects in such a competitive market.Thank you in advance for your help and guidance!

Typically speaking a 2 bedroom will bring in more if all other metrics are the same (i.e. location and amenities).In saturated and competitive markets I really do not like 1 bedroom or even 2 bedrooms as the barrier to entry is low and you will always have a lot of competition, and you are even competing with hotels at that point.Also building HOA's are scary, and Florida implemented the milestone inspection which means special assessments in most cases.Without diving deeper on all the numbers I cannot it will not make sense, but in my experience it will not make sense more times than not and it is risky.