Right now its slim pickings in real estate for properties that will cash flow or see any significant appreciation. of course they are always out there but a lot harder to find.The other question is why do you want to continue to grow?

That for them to consider it, they would want to order three appraisals, and then the loans would all have to be cross collateralized over the three properties, and it seemed over the top and costly way to borrow $75K.

If you don’t have a large down payment saved up, don’t worry—there are plenty of options available . . .”A trusted lender will go over the various loan types with you, any down payment requirements on those, and down payment assistance programs you may qualify for.

This is the time I use muscle over legal.

And you are continuing to invest in real estate a 1031 is a good option to explore. 

Also if any NJ agents that are familiar with using these and transitioning out of them can reach out for some advice and education that would be great seeing that I will need an investor Friendly agent over here to help guide me through everything.

I've been strung along by them for over a year.

Seller finance the property- ask for an up front, non-refundable down payment of $XXX (which could be used as his primary residence down payment), payments of $X over X years at X interest rate with a balloon payment in X years2.

We work in Indy (Central Indiana) and manage over 1K properties here. 

This property has been sitting empty for over 5 months and the management company seems to not have a lot of interest.