What I can't understand, is that if you pull 80% of the equity out to buy another property, all you did was make your payment much larger and you no longer cash flow, or just barely make the expenses....  

There are no exceptions If approved, you will turn on the utilities and bare all the costs to do so as well as the cost to de winterize and re winterize the property.

Lets say in the first year you do those 2 flips , since you are new , you over pay on the first and you barely break even .

When I briefly look over these types of units it seems they dont meet the 2% rule; a lot are barely 1%.

At $345k I would venture to guess this is a <1% for monthly rent:sale price, and 1% seems to be the bare minimum a lot of investors prefer.

Dual agency is legal in New York, and it's sweet for the agent (because the agent can double side the commission), but it's really not the best situation for a buyer and a seller.Dual agency requires you to give up some of the fiduciary duties that an agent owes to you - so you're really getting diminished service by using the seller's agent in the same transaction.At a bare minimum, ask the seller's agent if you can use another agent in his brokerage - that way at least you can keep all of the fiduciary duties intact. 

Recommending that the buyer act like they can barely afford their own offer in hopes that the seller will feel sorry for them and lower the sales price, causes buyers to lose deals!

I would say go out of state but beware things barely cashflow these days.

I've started to making two estimates, one for bare minimum, and one for going for more premium tenants.

I would upgrade a slummy looking kitchen or bath with builder grade materials or do tweaks to something old looking but in good condition (refinish a pink cast iron tub, use oil based paint to cover dated bath tile in good condition, paint good condition cabinets white and add new counters)