Miami seems to be quiet when it comes to networking and forums, it is probably due to competitive market.

As a new investor, it seems a little crazy to try to compete with experienced investors in what they consider to be the most competitive market they've ever seen.   

Anything that is a good deal is gone very quickly and most just don't make sense financially.Pre-foreclosures  may be a better source of deals but that is a highly competitive list to target as well.  

The reason given by the Washington Legislature forbidding non-owners from paying someone else's taxes is that some owners were being scammed by investors paying the owner far less for a property he/she was about to loose, then the property owner would have received in excess proceeds from the highly competitive property tax foreclosure sale.A number of local investors say that the real reason for the change in who can pay property taxes, is that many county budgets were being seriously impinged by investors removing excess proceed funds that otherwise escheat to the county general fund.

Just really depends on the competitive nature of the keywords you're going after. 

There is a an active (competitive) investment community here.  

You also have no Competition.

They might not have the terms you want but loans in that range are not very competitive to the borrower like larger loans are.The REFI should have been researched heavily with 3 to 4 lenders lined up before even acquiring the property. 

I wanted to see what strategies people have had success with in terms of buying properties in very competitive markets?

If you are in a competitive market or you are asking for a large discount from offering price any contingency may cost you the deal.