You don't need to pay someone to learn the business - your new friends at the REIA will be happy to help you (mentor you) for free.To answer your question, NO, I do not view the other members of my REIA as competitors (including new investors).

Quote from @John Canwell: When John D Rockefeller bought up oil railcars and then bought out his competitors and raised prices, the government acted.  

Using cash is great to beat the competitor.

.-  My biggest fear when I help someone is that they're going to end up as my competitor (actually, wasting my time is my biggest fear, but the competitor thing is a distant #2). 

You need to be better than your competitor.

I started at 31 - 6 years ago, buy my first rental unit, barely cashflow positive, around minus $100-200/ month, though a good deal for appreciation of the property (2x of purchase price), the second one was 3 years ago, better rental setup and better income (learnt from the first setup and competitors), bought a house to live in 2 years ago which mortgage is paid from the income of the second rental property, completed the mortgage of the first unit last year (5 years MTRG),on going for the third property using BRRRR that I learned here in BP.

Quote from @Russell Brazil: If someone is anonymous, and not being specific about what the complaint is....how do we know they are not just a competitor trying to throw shade at their competition? 

You may want to check out our website, www.LogicalPM.com, because unlike our competitors who MERELY state what they can do for you, we provide an outline of how we execute each of the services we provide!

I have always been a high driver and competitor, and watching coworkers work half as hard and make the same salary drives me a little nuts.

The companies that will stay down after a recession are the ones that went in weaker, and had to lay off their core talent, give up critical assets, end up buried in debt, or didn't have the funds to develop any new products while their competitors did (ie, you should have bought those competitors instead).