And these numbers get even juicier if you benefit from significant rent appreciation or property appreciation, or if you decrease your down payment percentage.

Could a lot of investors quit buying properties b/c the mortgage will be too expensive, decreasing the # of buyers in the market, allowing cash buyers and owner occupants to have more opportunities??? 

That’s a great question, if rates decrease and you cash out refi into a fixed rate loan in 3-4 years then 25% down is a better deal, but only if you have the reserves and the risk capacity to cover if rates increase in the next 5 years.

You have a relatively brief window in which to do that (3 years before the benefit decreases, 5 before its gone).

You can do that simultaneously by increasing rents and decreasing expenses. 

I am on the slow end of adopting new technologies but even as such, I realize that the technology Scott mentioned does indeed decrease the value of a Kiosk for a vast majority of the customers in most markets.  

@Jason RamosIf your DTI is too high, you need to increase your income or decrease your debt.

The only way to bring down housing costs is to increase supply or decrease demand, whether that's by building more, by emigration, or by something else.  

When the cycle ends and a downturn hits, vacancies increase and rents drop which increases expenses and decreases income.

Which decreases your income more.