Now if your thinking location jumps out as a big factor to all this, you hit the nail on the head, location location LOCATION. 

Office space has taken quite a hit lately, especially with the move to work from home.

Loan to value ratio: The higher the loan to value ratio (LTV) is, pricing takes a hit.

Glad you are setting aside money, but if the HVAC is 20 years old, or the septic system has never been pumped, or the roof is 25 years old, etc; you will get hit with a cost before your build up enough set aside.How stable is the other tenant? 

Lastly, the price point is still very cheap here in the sense that you can still find investment deals that hit the 1% rule for 120-180k!

Sounds like you are getting hit with a lender who has overlays and possibly miscommunication between the loan officer/processor to the underwriter.

We find that having the tenant pay for all utilities and taking the small hit on rent we are far ahead over supplying utilities to the tenant. 

If you can design something like that and hit those rental numbers than you're going to be very, very happy with the investment. 

Don't look for lowest rate, look for lowest cost on fees as you will either refinance out of that loan or sell- the prepay will hit you on the back of the head like a cinderblock wall.

I’ve hit a challenge in shifting my mindset and would like to ask the group - if I’m not an extrovert with a sales background and the cushion of a 6-figure corporate job, will I be able to succeed at REI?