They will not stop at eliminating their competition (that's you). 

For all of those that are claiming that the TRUE (whatever that means) market value of the property is determined by what a single skilled real estate investor will pay in the absence of competition...you are wrong.

These exemptions apply to corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.†Don’t see that one working myself...REITThis one I am very interested in but to qualify as a REIT it has to follow these basic rules1, Be an entity that is taxable as a corporation2, Be managed by a board of directors or trustees3, Have shares that are fully transferable4, Have a minimum of 100 shareholders5, Have no more than 50 percent of its shares held by five or fewerindividuals during the last half of the taxable year6, Invest at least 75 percent of its total assets in real estate assets7, Derive at least 75 percent of its gross Income from rents from realestate property or interest on mortgages on real property8, Have no more than 20 percent of its assets consist of stocks in taxable REIT subsidiaries9, Pay annually at least 90 percent of its taxable Income in the form ofshareholder dividendsBut the benefits are that a REIT PaysNO CAPITAL GAINS TAX.

Assume competitive means just that.

., revive a corpse), environmentalist expect "green laws" (increased energy costs), the unemployed expect health care and extended benefits (entitlement, "it's my right"), the minorities expect enhanced affirmative action plans (ignoring a competitive global job market), and the average American consumer wants to continue to live an unrealistic lifestyle, given the level of global job competitiveness and increasing amounts of debt incurred by both consumers and our government (i.e., I deserve my father's lifestyle).

Prices are dropping slightly, but there is plenty of REO inventory and plenty of buyers.That said, I've noticed a lot more investor competition over the past several months, and it appears that a lot of new investors are jumping in.

because 90% of the people would have walked and you're not that is why you have a potential to make that kind of spread...I've constantly out hustled ALL my competition because I'm willing to do more than anyone else...

You will have to forge a good relationship with the REO listing agents for this, and for many listings they will have a small window of time where the listing is not on MLS and the listing is exclusive to the listing agent and the agent's "team"; that time window is used to identify their own buyers without competition, so that they collect both sides of commission.

Thanks for your reply K.You bring up some interesting points....I wholeheartedly agree and understand point 1, in fact it is the competition of all those smart investors that scares me the most, which is why I am studying so much right now!

My houses always showed better, better amenities (grog door openers in neighborhoods where they weren't "standard"), cleaner etc, than the competition.