Our goal has always been to bring in enough cash flow to cover ALL of our living expenses. 

If the rent payment covers your mortgage and you have a good tenant, why would you get rid of them to take on the expense of unit turnover, because you will have to do one, and the 5% vacancy loss just to increase your rent $150 per month?

I know taxes and insurance have gone up a lot in that time so I understand that problem but the solid rent increases in that time have been able to cover most of that (at least for me it has worked out).

Outside of raising money from others or seller financing, I am looking to see if there are private or other lending options that could cover 10-20% of a downpayment on these loans with a shorter loan term of say 5 years.

You'll have proportionally less upside and thus less room to cover errors and overruns on a project with a new team you'll be far away from. 

Zillow also hs a "Make Me Move" feature you can click on to see home owners listing their property in hopes of a good offer.I have also seen peopl reach out tp local AFL Assisted living facilities to talk to the Admin or on boarding nurse to see if ay families or people need to sell their home to cover costs.

Your tenant stayed somewhere with bed bugs and brought them back in their clothes/luggage, or they bought used furniture that already had bed bugs.

I've seen banks be very competitive with blanket loans that cover multiple properties and/or multi-family properties, e.g. 5+ units.Mortgage Brokers (obviously I'm biased) - Brokers have the ability to work with all of the above and can get you to the best lender for your scenario right away instead of having you waste your time with the wrong type of lender.

Hello everyone, I purchased my home two years ago, and currently, I have a tenant renting a room for $800, which helps cover my mortgage.

3. what type of deposit / reserves can you provide in case the monthly rents you receive do not cover the rent you pay me?