The local guy told me he would NOT be interested in helping me in any fashion because I would be a direct competitor of his.

@Russ Beck and @Mike Osterman, one of the best ways to differentiate your marketing from that of your competitors is to mix it up.

My competitor... yes you.. that always copies every gaadamn thing I do... for him SEO is utterly useless because he would have to beat me for SEO, to be of any use to him.

Do you think your competitors would stand a chance? 

I usually start with about 400 words;-)There's a lot to this, like don't change font types, keep a swipe file, try split testing, etc.I like Michael Quarles tracking.MikePS Contact info not included in the 7X7.

But if you find a competitor that is killing it, not only rip them off, but copy them exactly...!

They gave me a bid and it seems to be less than $2000 lower than the other competitors.

@Brent Coombs Very tough to find good deals in major metro like Philly, demand and cash competitors drive prices up so a 10% cap rate is tough- as for interest, not much I can do about that except use as a deduction, this is an FHA loan so for 10K i can realize significant deprecation and expenses-  however I do agree that price for rent roll is high, seller has had building for 10 years so he isnt very motivated to sell as his price point is much much lower (220K).Thank you for your input!!

Some of the competitors charge crazy fees.  

Though, in all honesty, a lot of my competitors have done quite well utilizing black-hat.