I’d challenge you to look past the dollars and cents and things being equal.  

Some real estate investors argue that it is alright to be a couple of years in the negative is ok because appreciate would equal things out, however I do believe many people overestimate the amount a person can raise rents year over year and the true costs of a rental property.

I was 100% confidant that the small, local bank was going to fund the deal, which is why I ultimately chose to work with them despite equally good terms. 

For rentals is it a good practice (or essentially mandatory) to have a mortgage that is, at a  minimum, equal to rent minus expenses?

If you can save me that time/money, I’d have to be an egotistical maniac to not want to pass those savings on to you as my client.Dans recommendation to reinvest those funds with increased leverage in to a small multi-unit property is equally as insightful.

@Mike Gehard I agree with @Matt Nusbaum that all three things are equally important: the market, the sponsor, and the offering.

Do you think they use equal electricity?

@Cody Cotten There are a lot of variables to consider, especially your opportunity cost, but all else being equal, owning both sides of a duplex is better than owning one side of two separate duplexes for the reasons you mentioned

If I lay out different options like you are proposing and calculate the net effective rate for each of them should the 3 proposals for 3 term lengths be equal? 

All SEC 8 tenants are not created equal.