Hi all, I want to get out of the real estate game and do a 1031 exchange to roll my equity into a home that I will eventually live in after the 2-year required rental period.

Lots have free trials/free plans that you can take advantage of and see what works for you.

During the recent period of low interest rates I acquired some rentals with a 15% down payment in order to stretch my cash further toward down payments on additional properties.This helped with the down payments and my math showed that even with a little higher interest rate compared with 20% down and the PMI until I was able to remove that this would still be the wiser choice. 

Some considerations are the type of loan (Conventional, DSCR, etc), the type of property, the market the property is in, the location, your income and employment, the timeframe on the cashout - the list goes on.Generally speaking, you *should* be able to cashout refi up to 75-80% LTV of the appraised value after rehab, usually following a seasoning period.

If the owners purchased very recently or invested a bunch of money into the property it will be unlikely they will accept a lower down and an extended repayment period. - Little to no existing debt tied to property.

If you are financing the initial purchase, you will probably be subject to a seasoning period where you won't be able to refinance.

The waiting period hurts more than having a rate in the 7 or 8s.

HD for example has a program where they will set up shelving, provide labeled/bar-coded bins, stock specific items that you choose, and check / restock to specified levels periodically.

He’d pay $50 - $100 for these, and wait thru the redemption period and then file for title.

So, like most loans there is a grace period to back out.