Would I be too late to the race? 

It's really stupid but but most banks consider the following to be rural: over 5 acres, if it has an unimproved road to get to the house, if it has a barn or horse stables, if population of town is under 20,000 (population density varies by lender).

While I do price competitively, I am personally not competing with the "race to the bottom" lenders that will do loans for almost free because their model is volume.

These people are clearly the victim of some brilliant guru who told them how to retire early/escape the rat race/be their own boss/etc, but forgot to mention the part about it being really tough, and like 95% of people (rough estimate just from my brief experience here on BP) fail. 

I guess that works if you want a listing or wholesalers type things.. but if you actually want to close on a deal I cant see why folks get the cart in front of the horse.. 

just trying to avoid the race to the bottom.  

we call those junk fee's the issue is simply marketing.there is a race to the bottom on APR and points.. 

I'm a slow and steady wins the race investor that has little by little bought single family rentals (combo of long term, mid term, and short term). 

Purchased new a work horse set that’s pretty basic with no electronic components runs me about $1100.

@Abdi Muya - based on your long post, it seems that you're putting the cart before the horse.