Newbie questions - financing / new york area

[Haribansha Acharya]

Hi, first of all, thanks for maintaining this website, it's a great resource for newbies like me. 

I was considering buying my first single family home for my family, but am not considering buying a multi-family home instead where I live myself in one of the units by going a little further out if needed and get my feet wet in rental property investing. I work in New York city, and need to buy within a practical commute distance from the city. I had a few typical newbie questions. 

1) I think I can finance my first property through a 20% down, but that will likely quickly hit my traditional debt/income ratio in my first property itself. I read through some materials on BP which talk about getting financing for second, third and more properties. Is this advice still practical for an average employee working in New York city area? As a second property, I want to have the option to buy a single family house say 2-3 years down the line in case I decide to live in a single family house later. How practical or feasible is that? If I move myself to the second property, will that put me in some advantage?

2)  Where should I look to find properties that follow the 2% rule which is obviously great to have but probably hard to find close to New York? How far do I need to go (am open to tri-state area with practical commute)? Any typical neighborhoods with great deals?

3) Do realtors for multi family rental properties tend to ones specialized in these kind of properties? How do I go about finding a good realtor in this?

4) Are there any dedicated websites for multi family rental properties? 

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards.