Not sure if property values are enough to get you there.Talk to a lender and see if that will help get you to the finish line.Another option may be to change your exit strategy and seller finance them and then sell a partial to recover your seed capital.Jeff

Don't just sod out the lawn and build massive Trex decks with 2-way gas fireplaces. go with old fashion seed, small but cozy reclaimed decks and a trusty pellet stove ....

Plant the seed that they never know when you might be around. 

Bed bugs are small, flat, oval, reddish-brown, wingless insects that feed primarily on the blood of humans.Adult bed bugs are approximately ¼ inch long, about the size of an apple seed.

You will not always need money but doing real estate without first earning some seed money will be very difficult although a lot of people actually do it. 

Is my $10,000 set aside for repairs, painting, seeding lawn, fixing doors, etc a good reason for me increasing the rent?

Your seed money needs to be a verb...not a noun, and every deal you make should be made where the exit strategy from that deal sets up the entrance to the next deal(s). 

That could be seed money to allow you to quit one job. 

Scalability was super high priority and I passed on many great cash flow properties because I would have lost all of my seed money.

1 - Flip the "cash" and reinvesting the profits until the $150 (original seed money) became $300k (new seed money).2 - Continue the flip the "cash" (new seed money), but instead of reinvesting the profit...use the profits (only...don't touch the seed money) on buying hold properties for the cash flow.3 - Repeat Step #2 until you've reached your goal of needed cash flow" from your hold properties.4 - Retire (meaning, you now have a choice of repeating #2...or not).