It takes a group of investors to be a bigger player then the individual investor.

If you want to run your own deals, I would recommend calling on at least 10 banks that are actual players in the area you want to buy in, be open and honest about what your plans are and ask what it would take to get into a deal.

Typically these are buyers with lots of cash sitting around from a high income job or business or a 1031 exchange that sold off houses and now wants a small multi property in a high quality area.The bigger players in the hundreds of units some ore UHNM (ultra high net worth) or they are syndicators.

In our state or and wa cal western had a presence however was not the dominate player I believe northwest trustee service was or is. 

So the players might have changed- but there are many deals to be had.

I can see new entities being formed, new businesses, pooled investor players acting individually and staying within the guidelines.

Doug, while I agree the market has many new players coming and some going, I would argue this pricing frankly is not new or of a higher level.

This lending/borrowing on notes by small dealers often gets into fractionalized interests as they can't raise capital from one player.

My understanding from talking to some people at the local REIAs is that there are 4 or 5 main players who buy most of the "deals" from the auctions. 

Here are the players and what they bring to the table.