As you suggest lowering down payment to buy more properties is one way, although the downside is greater risk in event of down cycle and more time to manage required.  

However, I made the decision when interest rate was lower and there was support for an appreciating real estate market.

Taking these two pieces of info will tell you how long you will take to get an offer, so if you go past that you should lower the price, and then the other action item would be to starting off lower than all the other properties if the condition is better than your condition.

Servicing costs are fixed, rates get higher lower the loan amount gets.

Our strongest case is that our bank appraisal says it should be much lower.

Since the previous owner is getting most of the proceeds does the closing attorney issue him a 1099S and then issue my company one for a much lower amount?

The lower unit is a basement/guest suite.

Quote from @Brad Kremer: Hi everyone,I own a cash-flowing duplex in Austin, TX, that I bought 8 years ago when rates were considerably lower than they are today.

Are there any lenders who are lower than this, I've been brokering myself.

Factoring market conditions at the time of refinance, I negotiated a lower rate and conceded a lower term anticipating rates to normalize in the 4%-5% range by 2026.