I am building my systems and my business to be stronger to take advantage of whatever opportunities come.

So my point was simply that many of the interactions for a newer investor and the stronger interactions for sure are probably with newer investors.

There may be incentives or regulations working in the background to cause this.It could also be that another offer looked stronger.

There is an even stronger correlation between people with degrees from Ivy League colleges who are able to become CEOs of fortune 500 companies, members of the Senate, Congress, and other very lucrative & powerful positions. 

Our financial position now is substantially stronger, near perfect credit, strong assets, good equity, cash in bank, etc.

Vacancy rates are up of course, but I believe rents should be dropped accordingly (If you can cash flow at more conservative rents then you'll be fine).I wouldn't expect property values to increase on the trajectory that they did during the bubble, they will increase in a more modest and healthy manner and will increase mostly due to the pressures of inflation which will grow much stronger over the next 2-3 years.The real estate bubble can be likened to a stock bubble and other bubbles, but real estate as an asset is quite unlike any other asset in that it is a home where people live, it is a limited resource (land), it is part of the American dream (which may be altered now), and it is a nessecity to live (shelter).

The stronger sponsors have access to institutional financing or broker-dealers and thus have many options that provide functionally equivalent services.  

I have a a stronger sense that prices will rise rather than CAP rate rising. 

It has this storage of ridiculous stupid emotions that hold us back and in my case it's stronger than any rational capabilities I didnt get enough of during creation....  

Tom A brings up a good point, IF you can work closely with private lenders and HML's in the fashion he describes, you can certainly make your financing offer much stronger than others, but again, you should not be stating it is all cash, it is not.