They are the competition if they are will to invite you in you should take full advantage.

When I say I, I really mean my family...I have a desk job and while I am doing what I can to help with the real estate (including being on here to learn and using my 2 hour a day commute to listen to pod casts and increase my education), my family is doing the heavy lifting at this point.

I have attended the local sales and you are correct about the competition....

His is the 256GB version which has 8GB ram but he is also running some heavy development and database software which needs it.

Perhaps in their mind there was a lot of competition for the house so they were offering you a deposit to hold it for them, but not feeling it was a "done deal" until the paperwork had been signed.You, on the other hand, are a landlord now and need to conduct yourself as a business person.

You may want to go check out a few other vacant rentals to see what's out there as far as competition.

This demand price was mainly drawn by the proximity to the JBLM base and the fact that the transaction was completely off-market.Seattle is a competitive market – with companies like Starbucks, Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft, ect there is a large amount of local money in CRE.

It's a nice rule of thumb(I suppose) but if you consider the organic nature of this market, ever-increasing competition and varying investment strategy options--the 70% rule is going to end up hurting you in the long run.

Will just have to keep an eye on the MLS and hope I can beat the competition - it's pretty aggressive in my market!

Now that subsidies are gone but mortgages still require flood insurance, maybe private companies can get real competitive rates going that actually work this time.