We've all heard of the good ol' direct mail approach to acquiring leads for your real estate business, or the yard stake signs you'd secretly stake next to your competitor's office (just kidding!).

These are competitors that spend 10x the amount I do in ad spend, and some advertise on other media sources, such as television and billboards. 

Alternately, you could just offer yourself to the community as a partner instead of a lender.5) Disclose to your clients in advance that you are a competitor and might personally buy any deal they present to you.

A competitor better deal overall will see if they return if not going to join fb next time they return.

I did some foolish things when I started and will implement some of yours as I offer a product that is nicer than my competitors.

My bank wouldn't budge on the terms so I moved the deal to a new bank and arch competitor of bank number one and got a new appraisal.

@Scott Johnson, it wouldn't be a HELOC in the sense that you can click a mouse and move the funds over, or swipe a credit card (yes, that exists for HELOCs) for a $300k purchase.It would more be a relationship with a private investor, probably someone who is herself in REI.

Making tons of offers and having 10 other competitors making offers on the same property.

There are very few competitors with you currently.

Hank Paulson is not from Chicago and yet, he was the first to hand GS their first government check and help eliminate GS's biggest competitors such as Bear Stern.