Now I'm 9 years into it and my assets pay for everything.

Risks: rates go down and you have to pay a prepay of 2 or 3 %; you have to sell and pay the prepay; rents decline & you can't make the payment like any other type of loan; cost upfront a little more than conventional; need to find experienced broker licensed in the state where subject property sits; servicers are bulldogs. 

Right now, the best offers around me are for some 1.3-4 million, that only generated around 100k per year gross, so there would be a high chance of not cash flowing, and paying money, especially with a commercial loan (these buildings have more than 4 units).I was thinking that although the rental itself does not generate money, I would be able to deduct the mortgage interest, and depreciation from my personal w2 income and would be net positive.

We generally advise our clients to go ahead and pay the recapture rates if death is the alternative.The good news about recapture - the deductions are a deferred tax liability to you, and an interest free loan from the government.

You can pay for expediting for plan reviews and the best way to "expedite" beyond that is to make sure that your engineer / consultants are submitting complete packages each review cycle.

You do not even know where to buy or how much to pay.

A longer timeline will make paying the extra 2% now more attractive.

I have never been disappointed and have actually thought he pays an extreme amount of attention to my needs for the price he charges.

@Lauren Ruppert  Cash out refi only in the husbands name which will take the ex wife off the financing/title and use the cash out proceeds to pay out what is owned to the ex wife.

Delayed gratification pays off!