You are the one in the drivers seat in this situation, you are deciding if you are going to let the prospect live in YOUR house...most likely the person on the other side of the phone is going to be worrying about what stupid things they said! 

It's like the cashier at Burger King getting mad because someone wanted no onions on their burger, which just increased the likelihood the order will be wrong because it's not "standard."   

Since you want to use the cash for another investment, chasing yield in an index fund is madness.

Sometimes this is a very strong driver. 

No consistency.So the big question is... what is the big driver behind rent fluctuations?

I don’t get mad, I get my attorney. ;-) One of my private investors is a Doctor and he has a sign in the back window of his very nice car that reads “My Attorney Can Beat Up Your Attorney”.

That is one of the key drivers for why I wanted to do the FHA route, so I could start before I had enough for 20% down.

One of my mentors told me a few years back:"When cab drivers start telling you that an area is great for investments, GET OUT."

The main driver of appreciation is low inventory, and that has been throughout the recovery.

REI was one of them but due to financial issues I had to postpone my dreams of investing in real estate, fast foward to now Im a local CDL truck driver and in a position where I can start planning again for the future to finally become a RE Investor.