The competition is even fiercer. 

I’d offer competitive price points to property managers/agents in return for continued business.

Now is still a good time to buy IMO because if you find a good deal there's not a ton of competition, which is a rare situation over the past couple years. 

The draw back to these loans is that they are more paperwork heavy than the other "portfolio" types of loans....but if you have ever received a loan on your primary home, it's likely that you will go through the same type of paperwork here with conventional lending.

Do a quality rehab inline with the competition in the area (don't over rehab either). 

its heavy to law so it should not be an issue for you at ALL 

, and late fee heavy, expense.

@Ellie Narie to layer onto @Carl Millsap's comments, you need to better understand the competition.  4 families still trade through comp sales, not as much financial returns. 

For flipping is another story but the only advantage with rentals is that they can make you as competitive as a straight cash offer without you actually having to pay the full amount.

The valuation less 8% is fair but it's heavy on the other partners staying in the game as they have to dish out some of their gains and "buy something at market value"... when we're all trying hard to buy something below market price.