It's called the Asset Island method, long used by HNW persons to great effect. 

Just this year, I used that equity as down payments for multiple other buildings.

Surviving the first few years is tough, but if you can figure out how to do that, you can have a 3-5% down payment (call it 15-25k) turn into 300-500k of appreciation over a 10-12 year period.

Each lender gave me a different answer about the terms of the loan such as required down payments, max loan amounts, and a few other things.

If you have $25-30k to sink in start up costs, it would be advisable to save up and use the money as a down payment on a turnkey furnished property. 

This is sometimes called the "Enemy Method," and you can search for more details.3.

If you had 80-100k for down payments, what were your move be, as a first time investor?

As long as you're making payments on time and have proper insurance on the property, banks are happy and don't want to call a loan due. 

There are methods.

If so, and you get a reasonable 7% loan on the $375k your payment will be $2496/mo.