You do some upgrades and sell it for 110k after 2 years.30 year mortgage:You've gained $2,883 in equity from mortgage payments, you've made about $4800 from cash flow, for a total of $7,836 just from cash flow and equity from payments.15 year mortgage:You've gained $8767 in equity from mortgage payments, and you've had $0 from cash flow.I also have to say I'm not sure how taxes will effect these numbers, as I've purchased 2 of my 3 properties this year, and I converted my own home to a rental this year as well.I'd say if you're planning on holding the property for a long time, it'd probably be better to have the cash flow to be able to either re-invest or to supplement your income. 

We hope to supplement our regular income slightly (maybe paying myself a monthly management fee) while significantly increasing our wealth/retirement.

If you want to supplement the proceeds with cash from other sources so the mortgage is lower that is fine.

I'm coming here as a supplement of sorts or a resource for anecdotal advice or heck, what do I have to lose by tapping into the community that knows these waters much better than me. 

It took a little digging, but what I found was that his main concern was setting up long term income stream to supplement his wife's social security.Maybe it's the exception and not the rule, but I never would have known if I hadn.t taken a little time to sound him out.

After realizing that the cost of buying a home, or even renting an apartment, was incredibly expensive I started looking for ways to supplement my income in order to afford my own place.

Good guy:  If I thought her deposit might cover the damages, I'd tell her that you love dogs but some people are allergic and so she must go and If she'll "clean up really good" and can be out in 7 days (or whatever time you choose) you'll give her X dollars. 

I think I want to persue a buy/hold approach - mainly because I want to build a retirement equity portfolio (preferably leave my 401k and transfer funds to IRA for investing) via real estate, and to have the cashflow from these rentals as a good supplement to the income I have now.I hope in the future, if things work well, to be able to persue real estate full time like the pros :)

I was looking for additional capital to supplement my private lenders.  

Is it your present business plan to supplement tenants rates based on whether you like them or not.