We're getting pressure from family to get rid of it and get them paid back. 

The 50% expense to income rule I tend to use the most, but I use it to quick gauge a deal with little information. 

both have pros and consyour agent might get a better list depending on how old the list is , but sometime a list company might be better or worse . probably not the answer that you wanted . lists are all like that . 50% could be good or 75% or 85% . its only after you have done both you can gauge the best one for you . and then again it could differ from person to person , type of list .Hope this helps.

This will take away the pressure for him to delay closing until he identifies a replacement property.

It's not like we were pressuring him to give a definitive answer right away.

Needless to say, their income wasn't always guaranteed and was always supplanted by some sob story about how they had to send money to parents, the dog was sick, etc.A long story short, I think the gentleman had a bit more pride than the young lady and started to feel the pressure of missing payments.

Other than the obvious laws of supply and demand, what other economic forces put pressure on rent prices, both up and down?

Instead of thinking: "There's no pressure, this is a retail-price deal, I can get them all day long on MLS."

You maintain a high income, you have no pressure to impress for success and you can coast through the daily grind without allowing your job to interfere with your true interests....investing. 

So, anyway, just more reinforcement to put pen-to-paper and gauge how all of that actually looks on a spreadsheet.