The only major difference is usually prepayment penalties and maybe some obscure, unusual loan terms in certain cases. 

There are several different kinds of exchanges with different rules and timelines, not just one type.

Generally, the biggest difference is that DSCR Loans often have prepayment penalties attached which typically will have a 1%-5% fee if you prepay the loan within the first five years so its the "risk" of having to pay a little extra fee if you sell or refinance the property pretty early on.PS - check out this series of 10 articles published on BP on all things DSCR Loans which can give you a full rundown on everything you would need to know when using this type of loan!

The solution would have been to sell this once you got it, and net the difference.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

Build - rent - refinance -repeat. in columbus ohio you are buying old houses that are 1900 or 1920 or 1940 and you are in a sellers market. on the other hand you can source land which is a buyers market and build single family homes or duplex or triplexes that will return by renting and pulling cash out on a DSCR loan and doing it again. there aren't a lot of strategies that do this. flipping is different. so many risks. but when someone has a well oiled machine it's all good and less risk.

There is a difference.$300k cash flow in 20 years is an ambitious but not unrealistic goal. 

If you are hiring a PM, then it's not a big difference either way, but if self-managing you don't want to go much bigger than you have been or you may not be able to do all the work.

How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone.

Todays standards are far different as you know..