Question is, if I have the means to put a high enough down payment on a house to be cash flow positive (assuming my expense estimates are accurate, etc.) is that something that I should do?  

Course of prior conduct may be used to determine what constituted acceptable quality.

Buy quality, if that means every 2-4 years not annually so be it.

If you haven't had any showings in 2 weeks you are probably priced too high.

It's not profit until you access it in some form of cash.I've seen investors loss properties with equity (a few with a lot of equity) because they can't sell at a price high enough to gain that equity, or because they can't refinance it due to the negative CF,...which would increase with a new mortgage.

It's a scary high %. 

There are many benefits in getting the permits and the risks of not getting it permitted are high... 

If your DTI is already high, taking on a higher loan amount might not work.

Instead of tying up your capital in a high-cost primary residence, consider taking the would-be down payment and investing it in out-of-state properties.This strategy allows you to diversify your portfolio across multiple assets, spreading risk while potentially generating cash flow and building equity in appreciating markets.

For example, if you are an active investor you can still find deals but they may not have quite as high of returns as we had become accustomed to in the previous years on average.