Margins are already thinner than they used to be on flips, and, especially, as you are learning, taking risk out by putting more cash into deals buys you a little flexibility.

You'll have more work to put into it as it takes several months before being able to get a deal, but the margins will be bigger. 

I don't know about you, but in 30 years I'd rather be sitting on a million-dollar asset that I own free and clear (because someone else paid it off for me) that is generating multiple, multiple times the rent I was collecting when I first acquired it and in which I can fill a vacancy with a qualified tenant within two weeks because the area is so desirable that it can't keep up with housing demand than on some boondocks asset that I only purchased because it was the cheapest thing around and "cash flowed" $200 per month on paper but barely appreciated over the years and whose rent appreciation has marginally kept up with inflation and takes me three months to fill a vacancy with a "qualified" tenant who even then might get behind on rent because his hours were cut at the gas station 30 miles away (true story; my tenant worked at a gas station in Boron--only job he could find).Personally, I'm keeping my 4-unit in Santa Clarita and investing in development deals and notes until an incredible off-market deal lands in my lap (keep dreaming, Logan) or the SoCal market cools.  

Again a rehab of almost any property in Baltimore, given almost everything there is older than 1994 is gonna run you probably 120k & that’s before buying & selling costs, holding costs etc, there just aren’t margins to support that at least that I’ve seen. 

I do like the more expensive markets like because of the higher dollar margins and stronger appreciation.

All I come up with are so called "wholesalers" with not even a marginal deal.

Is the time and effort worth the marginal savings (if any)?

Real estate can't be compared with crypto or public equities because real estate is actually not an "investment", there's no such thing as a margin call in real estate.

One property is a condo (in CA) that I rent out, and the other property is a house (in NV) that I live in and rent out the other rooms.I quit my W2 job last year to start a business, which is slightly profitable today, but I reinvest everything back into the business.I have a bunch of cash saved up and am comfortable deploying $100K into another property in Las Vegas ($80K down payment + $10K furnishing + $10K margin).The only problem is that I’m not sure how to finance my next house without W2 income.I talked to a few lenders about DSCR loans, and most say they calculate rental income based on the entire house, instead of by the room.I would love to get the creative knowledge of the BP community on how to fund my next home 🙏🏼I'm also open to any lender referrals 😊

The market matured and margins compressed.