If you outwork your competitors, soak up knowledge constantly, network like hell, and offer a best in class client experience, age will never come up.

-What are ways to get higher rental rates than local competitors?

You can find deals anywhere, but most places are overpriced, and a big competitor would be Fresno.  

This will bring in a very conservative estimate of $900/room from AirBnB (I have poured over the analytics and already gathered competitor data) and allow me to not pay rent and save the $1300/mo I was putting towards rent.

If this agent has a good reputation, good contacts, has done a good job for you in the past, you plan to use them in the future and especially if they work with other investors who are competitors, I would think it would be a good idea to be upfront and honest with them and explain the situation.You could offer to give them the listing on the back end, or when you have the conversation with them you could say "I appreciate your efforts so I wanted to do something for you, it's not much, but hopefully it's enough to let you know I care and value your time, I really hope we can find another deal in the future together soon" and give them $500 in cash or a gift card or something... 

@Nasson RaymondI cannot speak directly to the services of Advanta, and must disclose that I am a competitor offering a different kind of service in the self-directed plan space.Two key things come to mind:1) Advanta is a 3rd party administrator for IRA accounts. 

Based on my observations, I have more pictures than my competitors, but they are not the highest quality.Should I update my listing copy?

Next, if you adjust your price a tad lower than the vacant competitors, usually you have an edge and will get it rented.  

Consider who your competitors are in the neighborhood.

(both rentals and sales) A big competitor for that area will be the apartment rental buildings which offer very nice (some new) amenities and other incentives for tenants, that some of these older buildings n the loop have a hard time competing with.