Real estate seems like my best option for building a nest egg the constantly replenishes itself and would allow me to not continue working very long hours and be away from home most of the year.  

If you use the $200k, how long will it take you to replenish?

Regarding budgeting, if you have ample capital and can absorb the large cost, then you can have a slightly increased capex to replenish the near term expenditure.  

If it's a "high repair month" that amount gets replenished, if it's a "low repair month" the account stays the same and my distributions are the net (above that balance).  

During move-in they broke one of the windows. i let him know upfront this was coming out of the security deposit when they moved out, but gave them the opportunity over the course of the year to over pay their rent to replenish their security deposit.

But I thought I'd just make sure that the required "replenishment" of notes is built into everyone's plans.I hope this helps.

Maybe after the 1st or 2nd sfr purchase, you may want to do a flip to replenish your free cash to have enough down payment for your 3rd and 4th property.

Just some steady cash-flow could help replenish those reserves.You "chased" a better deal by buying a property that needed work.

It all costs <$200 and rarely, if ever, needs to be replenished.  

Now we're working to replenish our savings and I hope to invest in real estate at some point in the near future.