You only need to put a small game plan together to start running the numbers base don zipcode, property type, sale prices, common rents/cash flow.You would be surprised how far $150K can get you to cover a New primary home and 1-2 rental properties back to back. 

I always try to plan for worst case scenarios, and carry enough reservesGino

As for researching the competition, all I have done so far is check common websites that market properties like Zillow, Realtor.com, Apartments.com etc.

He simply wants to be 100% done.Given the above mentioned scenario, I am wondering what the best possible situation would be to make this happen, while possibly still maintaining the option to pull out equity for capital improvement projects with a bank. 

(And this ignores seller credits, which are commonly offered to homebuyers during negotiations.)Affording the down payment is an issue for prospective homebuyers, but not the main one.

When I saw my tax advisor/attorney, he said another option would be to have a separate LLC for each property with a holding company for expenses common to all properties and to make distributions and contributions.

I simply am providing you with actual data and common sense so you can learn and start guiding others on the right path.

I have turned down a few apartment scenarios because I am not educated in the commercial arena at the time.

And it's just common sense, it really is.

The Average Rate of Return is calculated by taking your average net profit and dividing it by the total investment.So in your scenario, the total profit is -$50 over a period of 2 years, giving you an average net profit of -$25.