But since you can't do that, it's now a weight around your neck, with no good way out of it.

It's not the piece of paper that's going to qualify you - it's the prestige and the weight behind that paper.

Hi, folks. I am a new investor and I got a rental property in Texas. I did not rent it out last year since I got it in Dec. I've some cost incurred in 2020 such as loan points, agent fee for finding a tenant, etc, so ...

Or is this a clever ploy to reduce the amount of actual housing stock to meet a population's need that has seen a net reduction in population during each of the last 5 decades?

We should always have our ears to the ground to see how the market is going.As with anything in life, you have to weight the risk to reward and make a business decision.

I assume there was no way to get any kind of reduction from the seller to make the deal worthwhile?  

but every time i dig into a deal like this, i find out that the list price was preposterous, and so of course the sold price was a big reduction. and so of course it might have been a good deal.not trying to be argumentative - genuinely trying to learn and see what other folks are experiencing in higher cost markets

If you are planning to buy in an established development that has recent sales, financing & appraisal problems shouldn't be a factor....leaving little reason for the Seller to make a drastic price reduction for an all cash offer.

You are probably looking at a building ready to collapse under it's own weight.

As for the comment on requesting a reduction/concessions, if you are already under contract you have nothing to lose to ask all they can say is no.