After the market crashed in 2008 we went on a buying spree from about 2009 until 2015/6 (buy & hold) until the numbers didn't make as much sense as the prices started creeping up again, rent prices were flat and many competitors started entering the marketplace.  

Currently, we have learned a lot on how deals happen and what it takes to be a competitor in our market.

Quote from @John Canwell: When John D Rockefeller bought up oil railcars and then bought out his competitors and raised prices, the government acted.  

That means you are inviting pitches from competitors and occasionally, responses from that coaching program ready to get you on a call to discuss right away.

Still today, most every competitor of ours has blatantly or partially launched their services based on Carrot... but Carrot still crushes the competition in most every measureable performance indicator... because of my intentional focus to just outserve our clients.

Check your competitors on the VRBO/AirBnB platforms and see how they have their houses set up.Just my $0.02.

You tend to get a better and "truer" answer from forums like BP compared to even newspapers or journalism.Only Twitter is a serious competitor for BP imo.

I am also concerned to tell a local PM about it until I am in contract since I notice that they buy a lot of properties too and may create a competitor.  

Small town USA is totally overlooked and makes for a search area with few competitors, so profits are higher.

Its competitors are Appfolio and Buildium.