Cash is the best method for beating out your competition and can be less costly in the long run.  

Cash is great, as you have a competitive advantage with a cash offer and don't incur additional closing costs.

But that pendulum swung back in Denver and with crazy low interest rates attracting more buyers, it's back to the throw-money-at-it season.Not to toot our own horn, but it does speak to the necessity of having a strong agent who knows what strings to pull to put their buyer in the best position possible in this competitive market.

Expensive and competitive!

Especially in a competitive market like Columbus, Ohio

I don't believe this is actually a common practice of listing agents, or at least it hasn't been in any of the markets I've worked in. 80%+ of my business comes from representing investors on the buy side, and we win in a lot of competitive bidding situations.

Ominous things are happening across the country zoning wise and the competition is exploding. take a lot of the happy thoughts on this form with many grains of salt and spend sometime reading the last few months of posts on the short term rental and you may understand a lot better.

No competition and you can negotiate with them.

That said, competitive bidding could push it up well beyond that. 

I will warn you that MF is a little tough in this market - lots of competition for little inventory.