I mean, maybe I could try and rationalize this if you had a W2 of $500K and were happy to lose money now for equity building because of marginal tax rates.

I am a buy and hold rental type and I no longer can make rational deals in CA since prices are just too high relative to rents.

Travis AFB is right there, and I generally nudge folks towards a realtor up there that never sends business back my way (his brother is a loan officer, so not much I can do to earn his referral business), but he knows his VA Loan stuff and is always in front of it rather than reactive to it, so it makes rational sense to me because I do not particularly like having to teach Realtors how to do their jobs.Listing agents up there seem to appreciate that I operate on Bay Area Proper timelines, not Rural California timelines.

For the sake of this diary, I moved $50k into my separate account for this property on the day of purchase, so that there is roughly $6k sitting in it for repairs, and security deposits (that were credited to me along with rent pro-rations) on the HUD.

The fed can't raise interest rates without the wheels falling off the economy, But when was the last time they acted rationally? 

This is the way that I rationalize it: married money is community property money, so if he works and she stays at home it is still their joint income.Married couples have legal and financial responsibility to one another.While married couples do break up, they are certainly more committed than the shack-ups, so they are less likely to break up.My criteria states that roommates have to qualify separately.

We still tend to get double-digit returns.I also invest in properties that would make most sane, rational individuals run screaming for the safe comfort of home.

As the month is closing and we are trying to settle all the post closing pro-rations, me & the previous owner are at a disagreement.

To be fair, I doubt that any rational person would say that I want a silver lining considering some of the concessions the buyer is asking me to make on top of the contingency I outlined in my orginal post--including a significantly reduced purchase price.

Besides public speaking the other thing people would rather die than do is have to admit they took a loss on a deal and writing a check to close (as the seller) doesn't leave much wiggle room to construct a rationalization that their family and friends would believe.They could have turned the property around themselves but are likely out of capital and the glamor has worn off (Spouse giving them he double L constantly).