Unless your competition in this area does supply window AC, I suggest you do not supply window units.

Did you buy safe enough to rent it out competitively lower if you had to and still make money?

I have been told that once a property is foreclosed on and put up for auction / tax sale, bidding wars can seriously drive the price up, and there is a huge amount of competition. 

Credit Unions have no prepayment penalties and their rates are very competitive.

The answer may still be the same - depends on so many factors...but between the time I posted this and the time I'm writing this, a sub told me he had a couple employees who'd be happy to do the "gutting" for a very competitive hourly rate.

You have a long road ahead in outpacing your competition (assuming you're in even a mildly competitive market), and a lot of normal marketing practices are going to move the SEO needle for you (slightly).

The tax lien auctions are well attended and competitive and so if there is a lien that goes unsold there is usually a very good reason and the property to which the lien is attached probably has no little to no value.

How competitive are they these days?

For residential loans I find that there are many banks doing competitive financing.Many of our clients at Holton-Wise have had great success with MB Financial, Wells Fago, Van Dyke Mortgage & NLC Loans.

No (well maybe you'll get lucky) GC will take you in as an employee anyway, you'll be a future competition, so the feeling would be mutual.