John Croke with Trustco has consistently and easily beaten any competitors rates for my wife’s buyer clients (~16 of them this year). 

He would be a competitor so I really don't want to ask him for advise.This is a short breakdown of situation.

I guess my other question is how much do you look at your competitors.

Coinmach said they had the right to be considered before any of their competitors.

Also the commercial agents are not very open in helping train a competitor in their market.

Several times, I have found good deals, and then have had them stolen by an agent. Are there any laws against this? There SHOULD be a law that you are either an Agent or an Investor, BUT NOT BOTH!

That said, I'm really looking for honest recommendations as I swear amazon authors must have friends pimp their own books and write 1 star for every competitors book.

@Jeremy Davis   A company like Zillow will never settle for what they are currently making..whether it be millions or billions...spending $3 Billion to acquire a competitor shows they have plans on seriously impacting the real estate market in the near future.

Its quite nice actually, though now we have competitors around the corner like:http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/1102426928.htmlThe guy across the street from me that is a good comparison to my property lowered his rents to $1900 and has had his place on the market for about 2 weeks.

, you must appreciate your competitors, they are the ones that drive you to succeed!