I'm very deliberate in my approach.

For the last 6 months I've been self employed with my online company.I finally have some real money and I really, REALLY want to finally pull the god damn trigger.I have no friends with real estate and seems like anyone ive approached locally doesn't want their territory stepped on, only interested in selling their (cash flowing at least) flip. 

A better approach would be for you to put yourself in the shoes of the type of person you would like to help you and think about how you might make them interested in doing so. 

Using equity from my primary residence and then the 2nd mortgage approach will obviously increase my debt. 

Call a broker or appraiser and ask them what units are selling for in this market.They should know to give you an answer.Considering it’s 2-4 it would be appraised by CMA or $sqf approach, not the income approuch.How are you planing to found the purchase? 

Lets connect, I would be interested on how you approached the matter. 

@Andy Rousch Hey Andy, I think it also depends on the market(s) you are thinking of investing in as well as your approach to real estate investing. 

Makes more sense.Anyone else approach it from a different angle?

You could even find a smaller 6-10 unit building and approach a local credit union {unless they have become really hungry, the commercial units of the Big-5 are not going to be interested in deals less than $1-2M in size}.

The best way to approach it is to start with the requirements to fully defer all tax - you must purchase at least as much as your net sale and use all of the proceeds.