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).

All that said, the difficulty of getting parts isn't the tenant's fault.

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.

The property was in bad shape and we had to get an extra inspection to get the deal done but it's possible.

That is a gap of $41.67/month extra you could be getting if you went back on the market.If it were me, I would compromise and raise rent to $1,213/month or some random number under $1,300 to look like you did some mathematically formula that makes sense. 

It would also mean that what we purchase would be free and clear.Our rental apartment is paid for and provides $900.00 per month net cash flow after HOA and insurance.I feel our next investment will define our ability or our inability to further invest in the future.If I refinance the 200k will cost me around $900.00 extra per month.

So if you have $200k in stocks and otherwise, they'd divide that over 10 years, and give you credit for an extra $1666/month in income.