The principal paydown would be much larger, the appreciation and tax write offs would be better even with a weaker market because $1,000,000 down could buy a $4,000,000 property. 

You will have paid off some of the principal as well, but yes that ratio of how much of your payment is interest vs principal changes over the term of the mortgage. 

Basically if the interest, taxes and insurance (ITI) is equal to rents it qualifies instead of having to qualify rents against a full PITI (principal, Interest, taxes & Insurance).There are also some DSCR options that can use the STR like VRBO which tend to be much higher then the LTR - long term rents.

One avenue while you are waiting for that license is, getting a workman's comp (you could revise the principal's name later if you wish), and hiring him as piecework job, this would fall under Owner-Builder, this is only legal if 1.

An even better option is WPC - WP Carey, which is a diversified REIt, they have been aggressively divesting all their office properties and will soon be a principally Retail REIT, but they are still priced low with other Office ones. 

The agent has interest in the deal, and he is the leader of xx RE group so after he refused to sign the release my agent’s brokerage went directly to his principal broker but it didn’t help…

I was hoping to cash out refinance and come out with around $800k cash on hand post principal repayment.

You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property.

You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property.

Keep in mind only the interest on your mortgage is tax deductible - not what goes toward principal.