We have also had the most success by including our local partner as an equity player in the properties we own.

They're only 3-4 major players in the city and maybe 1 -2 "Good" companies.

In no time you'll be slammed with enough keyword alerts to give you a solid idea on the biggest players & markets that are represented by members here on the site.

Lots of foreign money, big players, and small inventory is limiting options and hoping to learn any alternate game plans/strategies others have for such occurences !

I am trying to find out who the "Big Players" in Dallas are.

With institutional real estate investments, the advice of an expert who works in the industry every day, knows all the players and their track records, and performs due diligence on each offering is a great benefit to you and comes to you at no cost.

Think about all the players - seller, you and lender and work creatively to find a win-win-win.  

Just speaking from personal perspective, if you're someone like me who buys local and knows the players, you pretty much know what can and can't be done with the properties.

My questions would be how do I vet those who are serious players from those who aren't doing great numbers?

The idea of a lead gen service makes finding motivated sellers SOUND so easy, but I was just at a networking event and talking to a local player who was successful before and after using their service, but said he "lost his shirt" with them.