No rational person is going to give you a key to their house when they don’t know you.  

My non-expert opinion,  or perhaps just rationalizing to myself:These are primarily the "luxury"   amazon dormitories being built in downtown and south lake union areas that are having vacancy issues,   and thats in large part just because of how many are coming online, and how many thousands more are still in the pipeline,    coupled with modest slowdowns in tech hiring.   

You are gaining nothing.Question #5:  Granted prices could drop, but I think appreciation over a 30 period year period would be more likely.Answer #5:  You're rationalizing a bad deal into a good one...and "rationalization" is the most expensive word a REI can use. 

so to play devils advocate Pratik  if the property will sell for 200k and you negotiated 150k  and in Sac you could list it on MLS for 200k an sell it in a matter of hours for all cash.. what value do you bring to this deal for the seller.. they would net closer to 185k than 150k I see this all the time that wholesaler bring value in some markets I get that especially low value super rough areas that are underserved by the RE community but I fail to see the value proposition you bring when you make these kinds of margins.. how do  you explain this to the seller that their home which you KNOW is going to sell for 200k is only worth 150k because you want a big pay day.. how is that bringing value.. ( just playing devils advocate this morning and curious of your response or rationalizing this )

It's amazing how rational this sport is.

Go on to Amazon and get the audiobook for The Rational Male by Rollo Tomassi for insights on the psychology of intergender dynamics.

You focus on what is the maximum you can spend to make money...and don't negotiate (rationalize) against yourself after you found that number.Second, whether you are the buyer or the seller, you focus on what you need financially first. 

So here's my question:  Do rents tend to act more "rationally" (for lack of a better word) than home price appreciation and therefore rental markets are in general more stable and predictable?  

This is a shiny object of distraction, rationalized to look better than lipstick on a pig.

My reaction is that this is a bad idea.First, you are becoming a business partner with someone who does not appear to be in a rational state of mind.