Despite this upside surprise, the unemployment rate edged up to 4.4%, the highest since late 2021, as 470,000 people entered the labor force.

I highly suggest following @Jay Hinrichs around the forum.

It's tempting to pay off a few rentals, but the math does not support it: really low ROI as you have mentioned.

Now to be clear, rent is due on the 1st, which is payment for the following month.

These protect the asset and support appraisal.

Seeing many parallels to "the community" here (you know, the ones who follow the biggest go-giver ever himself).

We stick with the tradional long term leases in the Richmond area and this market supports that very well.

Has it trended up or down?

There are more and more lenders that claim to support fast closes, offer competitive rates and terms only to change things to support a close or take far longer than expected which results in lost deals. 

My first stop would be to contact the Broker and follow up in writing that you will contact the real estate commission if this is not remedied within 10 days.  2nd stop would be a complaint with the Board of Realtors and the Real Estate Commission.