I was talking to the person I am buying them from and he said he hasn’t raised the rent because he has only done the bare minimum lately but it needs to be raised.

Should I be considering pulling as much cash equity out as I can during this period of low interest rates....and just holding it in interest baring IRA until real estate prices become more reasonable?  

Plus after a few months a few will be broken and you'll be down to 2x before you know it which I'd argue is the bare minimum. 

I don't think anything is 100% recession proof but I will say that in the 30 years I've lived in this area nothing seems to stop that juggernaut; I barely even go to anything in S/PF/G anymore because the traffic and crowds are ridiculous.  

My trucks barely get 10 .

I am looking for ways to distinguish myself from traditional wholesalers that put the house under contract before they have a buyer lined up, and that beat the sellers price down to the bare minimum. 

That is the way I approached it in my public service career - we didn't have a profit margin, so if I let a bare minority get away with not paying their fees, taxes, etc. then I would be hurting the vast majority who were counting on us to take care of their enterprise. 

Who is paying so much for a barely cash-flowing property in great areas? 

The 1st person barely qualified, if I run them now as couple I am pretty sure that they will drop way below the acceptance criteria.

For example, one of the properties we saw had a 6% return in the first year and almost 11% in the second year per his calculations, but when I take into account the principle payments as well, I barely make it out with $20 in monthly cash flow… and therefore a very small return.