My two acquisitions this year have been off MLS, as there is too much competition and a good project gets bid up where much of the upside has been sucked out of it!

Unless you have those relationships already in place from being in investment banking or similar, you aren't going to access Fannie Mae directly.To answer your other question/comment, yes Fannie Mae loans are usually sometimes the most competitive when it comes to interest rates.  

I think you also want to know when/if the college allows non resisdence and whether the college works the students to death ( less partying) or if it is a "party school". then there are maturity angles such as - Grad students and professors vs 1st year students. also be sure to compare what the U gives the students in their residences and the cost so you know your competition.

Single family houses do not trade on cap rate, although some people buy them that way; they trade on competitive market analysis (i.e., what people paid for the house next door).

Just note that your main competition in the single family market around there is the housing on base.

Its generally less competitive. 

The main problem I see with my local competition is that all they have is the IDX and some basic info about themselves.  

One sure-fire way to make a loan into a security is to have multiple lenders contribute to the loan, called fractionalizing the note. 

We don't openly breed competition, because our targeted markets are often narrow.I think you need to secure a paycheck job, and work real estate on the side until you can learn, and build up some capital.

Will investors on BP that are investing in a certain area freely share their connections or do they keep that information to themselves in order to avoid competition?