Either I need to find them myself or find them from a wholesaler.Any property that is marketed, either on the MLS or Craigslist, is going to generate competition and make it less likely a deal.  

Makes your rental more competitive when tenants comparison shop.Just my 2 cents.

As a competitive real estate investor for over 15 years, I've come to learn that most of my competition will quit at a certain point and as long as my team and I are willing to go beyond where they stopped we will win. 

But hey, the more difficult it is to get the lead the less competition you're going to have!!

THESE LEADS HAVE VERY LITTLE COMPETITION!

I'm hesitant to just tack it into the rent since that would a) make it less market competitive and b) locks me into an assumption of how many people would be living in the unit which has an affect on the water bill.I'm curious for ideas and practices to bill back water (particularly in the Cleveland market) that work well for you.Thanks for any suggestions!

The problem is there is a lot of competition on a site like that.

I also found a source that stated that Creative investing is much more stable than Traditional because Traditional investors now more than ever have much more competition because of Hedge Funds and other institutions that heavily invest in real estate while the Creative approach is driven only by motivated sellers. 

If your realtor is sending you homes from the MLS you will have plenty of competition.

I happen to be the most expensive property manager in my area but I also provide more services and better services than the competition.