Paying Cash Vs. Loan

[Blake C.]

I am sure this question has been asked 1,000 times so if someone wants to direct me in the right place, I would be very appreciative.

In my town, a normal Cash on cash return is around 6-7% if you are paying cash. There is a good bit of appreciation potential. If you were to put 20% on a 15 year note, you could RARELY cash flow it. It's usually slightly negative.

My question:

I am a conservative fella so I like looking at paying cash for a property, which will give me potential appreciation, and i'd have raw cash flow.

What I am starting to take into consideration, is if I were to say put 20% down on a 100k rental, and I earn 1,000 cash flow, that's a 5% annual COC return. But if it appraises by even 1%, that's an extray $1,000 in equity, bringing my effective return to 10% ($1,000 cash flow and $1,000 appreciation), also, if I amortize it over 15years, I could have another $2,000 paid down in principal (just using a round guestimated number) putting me at $4,000 added in wealthy with $20k put down, giving me a 20% return, effectively.

Am I looking at this correctly?

The thing about my town is you can ALWAYS rent out these rentals so not much fear of vacancy.

My goal is to get to $100,000 in passive income in 10 years.

Does anyone have some suggestions to help me understand what I am doing a bit better so that I can make a more informed decision. BTW, I'm a realtor as well so that helps in terms of shaving off 2-3% commission when purchasing.

Thanks in advance.