He either had a bad experience or...didn't want to help a newbie get started in fear that it would be more competition for him..who knows.

Unless your competition is offering spanking new oak floors, just do what it takes to make them durable and cleanable.

I went to a tax lien sale today, and it was a very well attended and competitive one. 

I guess they have their commercial competitive and anti-spam reasons.You can go to commercial list providers such as list source and one of my favorites, Property Radar.Core Logic has some tax list info. 

We are way late to the game for the 2017 request here but if he ever runs again we own a rental that is ideal for the Ironman competition 1/4 mile from the Olympic oval in Lake Placid. 3 bed/2 bath.

I am highly aware of the investment possibilities in my area as well as the competition in the market; but I am in the crawling stages of my investment and very eager and open minded for any advice to start on a more positive note and work for a successful career in the real estate industry.

Most LH landowners are huge players like Kamehameha schools, DHHL, Campbell, etc. and they have had these LH properties for decades.You determine the rent you'll charge, but in order to be competitive, you'll want to charge a market rate.  

There are always deals out there and if people are sitting on the sidelines then there's an opportunity with less competition, though I'm not seeing that today.

Also, maybe you want to wait until after the tax sale is over so there isn't any competition.

I heard all sorts of complaints from people/investors/agents about buying rentals here in Circleville & Chillicothe.I'm now at 51 rentals with another 3 in contract set to close within a month.I love these markets because the competition is significantly less and very easy to buy a very profitable rental.The biggest hurdle I've delt with is that the BRRR is that appraisals/comps are lower in smaller areas, so potentially harder to refinance but cashflow looks great.My cap rates blow alot of areas out of the water.