There are so many different ways to structure each deal. 

Everyone is a little different.

We have also had, historically, a 5%-ish difference in rent rates when renting out in December and January as opposed to other months.

It is easier to manage your own units (or to manage for one owner) than say to work at a property management company where you have a bunch of different owner's properties.

And, if I (an appraiser) decide I need to use comps in a different area, I should analyze the area and see if any location adjustments are necessary (i.e. are those comps in a more desirable area/location, etc,).

.- thats  good to hear .....fyi - when checking the  caps on an ARM loan - there are  3  different caps to understand and  be aware of  :  1) the  intial  cap  is the amount the rate  can change on the  intial  adjustement - this is often 5 or 6% ...so if your rate was  intially 4% - this means the  rate  could  intially  change to 10% +  2) the  lifetime cap  is the  max  amount the  rate can  change over the loans life - this is  often the same as the  intial cap at  5 or 6%  3) the  3rd cap is the one you mention  which is the  period  cap ..this is the  most the  rate can  change  once the loan  begins to  adjsut    annually or  every  6 months ..this is  often  2% 

I am an " Internal Travel nurse", which means I will be floating from 8 different hospitals owned by the same company.

So far, we've pieced along different elements of this (different tax person each year, no LLC to one to now 2 this year, haven't yet used a bookkeeper...)trying to streamline systems and have a solid foundation for our fairly new and growing real estate portfolio. 

All in all, unless you speak to a couple of lenders, the amount to close will be different.

A lot of you guys are either missing the point or maybe just work with a very different demographic than I typically work with.