@Christopher WestSounds like your day job eats a lot of your time; I am in the same boat. 

(not the cold-hearted Tories that everyone loves to rip on)You don't get to have you cake and eat it too.

Or do you just eat $1,000 in oil?

Typically it's 25% down conventional with about $11k in cloisng costs/pre-paids plus the $70k down and this eats into a lot of my capitol. 

15% commission... usually "they eat what they kill"...

New I would need it to at least break-even if I had a w2 to eat.

Sounds good, is the reverse exchange akin to an EAT or an entirely different animal?

However, with the SFH, I could buy 1 (if not 2) in cash so I have complete cashflow coming in rather than a mortgage for 15 years, for example with the MF which will eat away at the cashflow. 

I have nothing more to add to what you already know or Joe has said except that I wouldn't let sellers dip into the security deposit for two reasons: First, you now have an unsecured unit and even if (s)he's a model tenant, when (s)he moves out you're going to eat a cost that you could/should have been able to pass on.

Vacancy eats your profits fast.