Two thoughts:  1)  ask for the bid for labor if you buy the materials.  2) competition is always a strong motivator.

Our market is competitive and otherwise challenging but deals still exist.  

With competition so fierce, I am running into a bit of a time crunch... not a good place to be when trying to buy a smart investment property.

Also what is your competition?

I figure people looking for jobs might need to sell fast, but won't necessarily show up on any of the other lists, thereby decreasing, or eliminating, my competition. 

They seem to have very competitive rates and are very responsive.I'm just doing due diligence before moving forward and wanted any input from the community.Thanks.

It is very competitive here and the market is very saturated with "investors."  

Another issue in this market is when you are in competition putting nothing down versus someone who is putting money down or paying cash, someone using a VA loan will probably lose out on that deal. 

I do believe there may be another complex close by causing competition but I will check into it.  

Many areas have become hot and very competitive.