LEVERAGING TARGET: What should my downpayment be?

[Thomas J. Clifford]

I'm leaving the newbie RE investor phase of education and gearing up to look for my first purchase/purchases. I plan to do another 30 year refi on my primary residence and walk away with slightly smaller monthly payment, but using the cash-out of $168k as purchase capital.

I know there is a debate regarding buying an investment property in full vs buying properties with leverage, but I'm having trouble pinpointing a good place to work out pros/cons on which avenue to pursue.

A) What pros/cons do you know of to buying one property in full to obtain a higher monthly cash flow?
B) If I opt for buying more properties under conventional loans - would you recommend higher down-payments and fewer properties or go all out and snatch up as many deals as I can?

I'm leaning toward B unless there is something about A that I didn't consider, and I'm thinking of leaving about 25-30k for each leveraged property for repairs/reserves. Does that sound reasonable, or is that still too ? What recommendations do you have? Maybe not handle these purchases each at the same time, but stagger them out?

I appreciate any insights. Thanks in advance!

T.