They tend to get people to attend their seminars that have no understanding of RE Investing and think that they have to "pay to play".  

Commercial lenders are not playing by the same set of rules as conventional lenders.   

If they don't you personal financial situation plays a bigger part in securing a loan. 

I have 2 factors that I know play into it, but there's always more beneath the surface.

I've been playing with amortization calculators and have seen you can pay off 1/3 of the mortgage and reduce 2/3 of the duration.

How certain of the appreciation are you would also play into that question.Run some scenarios on what you could do with the extra cash vs what you stand to gain from the appreciation play and decide based on that and your goals.

I think there's a fair amount of play in the budget for what needs to be done.  

If you have rental(s) or plan to get one and want to decide between long/mid and short-term rental strategies taxes do play a roll if you have high W2 income you want to try and reduce you tax burden. 

However, I received some feedback from one of my partners that the play here would be for an investor to subdivide or re plat the land for a multiple tenant situation.

That will play a factor for qualifying.