You can only work with the rational ones though.  

Financing a residential property is very much like placing a mortgage on your personal residence - with a few small differences ... namely high-ration mortgages are not available on non-owner occupied properties.  

I didn't really follow the rational on that one but then I'm totally new at this which is why I'm putting this question out here!

When you start getting successful and have that nice big fancy house, cars maybe a big boat, travel trailer all on your compound, Jealousy can throw people on the fence of rational behavior overboard after they find out you're "rich".

At the time I rationalized that I could not pursue real estate because that would mean commissions.

This would equal $826,200 or $855,360 in your case or about $82,620-$85,536K per door.This is of course as accurate as conditions in the equities market reflect conditions of your local market and specifically the pool of companies utilized and general rationality of investors.

The reason why investors will buy properties that have little hope of being profitable, but rationalize that they are good deals still, is because they are chasing the property instead of the deal.I have/can buy properties over the AP and make more money now and in the future than another investor looking to buy that same property by buying lower than the AP. 

The cash flow and debt coverage ration are the important metrics on this deal.

What you have to do (and it's a form of rationalization) is work out if you're trading off $3K/month in rent for $1K/month in negative cash-flow.  

(A building can fall down on yourself, not not on other people, is the rational.)