Who cares about lifetime interest costs, except to the extent you can easily lower them (refinance to a lower interest rate) to increase your cashflow.

But as far monthly payment you could easily buy a house in a cheaper location have less roommates and the same monthly payment or the same number of roommates and a lower monthly payment.

Quote from @Kody Smith: without getting too deep into my finances, what my strategy is...1. take loans to buy properties (leverage)2. fix/flip for day to day cash flow income3. use some of the fix/flip income to buy consistent cash flow through:- business acquisition, - commercial properties (MF and store fronts),I have no intention of doing ALL of the management myself, I will hire management as needed (medium term goal)my expected core role is money provider, evaluating the numbers, making decisions, and connecting with investors, wholesalers, lenders, contractors, and property owners.while I am just on step 2 of the journey, I am looking toward step 3 to stabilize, and not worry about if house prices drop mid project or not (or not worry as much) So to be fair this is more about obtaining and growing a real estate business not simply buying rentals for cashflow.

If you have the extra cash you can buy more units or be able to handle expenses that crop up more easily.

If they are professional, they can explain this quickly and easily.

Again, this is only based on info you provided so there could be a lot more to the story for the good or bad but I can only comment on what was provided. not sure many are thinking rates are going to drop much in the next year.. seems like one would want to know how much they need to drop to see if the plan will work before putting good money after bad.

Are you able to use it easily, only with a HELOC.If you lose your tax deductions, then Uncle Sam is happy to take more of your money each year.Good Investing...

That is the only update I can provide today.

You could very easily find yourself broke and homeless with no way to recover. 

Can easily get fee worksheets and run credit/DU 3.