Lower down payment and keep the current as a rental or sell the current property and larger down payment on the new one?

This could include charging a larger deposit or last month's rent or the first three months up front or whatever.

It kind of depends on what your goals are, but you may be able to start consolidating your properties a little more with like-kind exchanges and/or purchasing larger properties where you could do cost-segregations on.

Successful out of state investing for a beginner is a difficult task.

But want to jump into something larger. 

The pool of unqualified buyers wanting to get in is pretty large & getting larger in this inflated market! 

You likely need a much larger volume in lower cost areas to make the same money.  

Thx not sure the returns would work for a larger equity partner.

Secondly, I think your better off trying to push for a larger concession package (Free Rent, Tenant Improvement Allowance) than you are trying to beat them up on their rent.

I took over the management of our portfolio while living overseas, and found one of the most challenging pieces of management was finding someone to do an easy task (photos, move-out inspections, meeting a locksmith, etc.).