Many bigger players did that with large apartment houses.So many stories.

The biggest players in the lease arbitrage world (Stay Alfred, Sonder etc.) have already formed solid relationships with large multifamily management firms and developers and their relationsips usually include exclusivity clauses locking other operators out of that building. 

I’m from a smaller town (Greeley) in Northern Colorado and although there are several larger and smaller multifamily properties there doesn’t seem to be a major player.

Here in Houston, the big one i have heard of is Real estate IQ. https://www.realestateiq.co/Below is a few free websites you can go to:Zillow.com – Zillow is the biggest player in the online house values game, through a feature called a “Zestimate,” which is an automated estimate based on public records and sales comps.

If I were in your shoes I'd spend 75% of my time talking to multi-family players in Fort Wayne.

Baltimore is a cash-player town for most of the rentals.  

Three months to fix an issue shows that they are not serious about being a major player in the management/accounting software area.

Again, nobody in Cleveland ( I know most of the " players " ) is going to give away the super great deals, why would they? 

Find out the real players in your market and go to them first. 

The previous owner was an NBA player looking to make a move, so we were able to make a quick offer, which he immediately accepted.