It is so sad, because there are many people who truly need, deserve and are prescribed an ESA letter.

Then if you go the extra step and Airbnb your space while you are gone, you would definitely be able to live for free (and comfortably) and possibly pull in some cashflow. 

Unless as @Forrest Williams said, the guy is a scumbag and deserves some sort of retribution....

It's the consumers and mortgage professionals that deserve each other, to an extent, more or less.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

I always hire my own inspector, and get a walkthrough video of the house from them (something not many people bother to ask for but it's really easy for them to do and doesn't cost any extra).

It may sound nice to pay a 6% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no additional fees.

As for the rates, we are already at 2.7% and hoping to get it a little lower so we can use the extra income as a buffer if anything goes wrong.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

When determining a buy down, most investors do what you already did; they determine how long to recoup the extra money down.If it's less than 36 months and the investment is a long term play, that's good.