But in her defense, the only ego-related issues involved with removing my uncle from the trust on Grandma's house, is my Mom's irrational fear that he'll take the house somehow if she passes.

At a certain point it becomes irrational, IMO.

If you're doing a flip or other short-term hold, the next buyer will look at what you paid, and no matter how irrational it is, they'll feel worse if you made a lot of money in their mind.Let's say that a house is objectively (crystal-ball-style) worth $100K and you list it for $100K in August of 2014.

Now, for the irrational side, maybe he is crazy or just thinking if my neighbor recently sold that for X, mine has to be worth X plus.  

The thing I'm trying to solve is the IRR at different holding periods.

The 3rd will go to long term follow up.I've read about how some BP'ers are shocked when direct mail recipients are rude, nasty, or otherwise irrational about receiving a letter in the mail.  

There's always gonna be a huge amount of irrational investors with loads of cash in dear need to leverage it so your 20% down will get you a $1MM SFH that will rent for an amount that covers 100% your operating cost hence, investors see it as 5x multiplier (via leverage) of their liquid cash and hold onto it because it's a high appreciation market (point in case San Fran Bay area sees 15% appreciation in past 2 years... u-hu.. bubble bubble they scream).

You're absolutely right, it's hard to pass on opportunities when you're green and eager to get involved, but I felt like I was starting to get cute with the numbers to make them work and would end up making an irrational decision if I didn't simply walk away. 

This winter storm has made rational individuals make irrational decisions, so I would first give care to the tenant.

Leverage humans’ predictable irrationality:Certain tactics, such as the creation of artificial deadlines, or the establishment of extreme anchor values, can cause people to respond in an impulsive and irrational manner.