My second question is do I get a more energy efficient and raise rents but now include heat in their monthly rent?

Is there a place where I can type in the address of the properties I am considering, and it will spit out an estimated monthly rent? 

This month we have placed three opportunities with investors looking to balance their portfolio.

You could arrange payments with them (eg $1K a month for the next year with interest).

We send countless emails, and he answers us every 6/8 months saying he will work out a payment plan.

It's going to be around 6 months since I started looking, and still no property.

Up until then I was cheerleading the earlier thought experiments about supporting lean/regular/fat income with ~$1000 / month per paid off SFH, thinking “I could bang that out in 5 years”.

You have a personal issue- car engine blows up, so you tell your tenant that they need to pay double the rent for one month so that you can get your car fixed?

The least risk would be to use the extra 100k a year to buy bonds and then sell the bonds to pay the mortgage each month.

Then in 6 months refinance into a conventional loan and you can exit the property legally.