That way you can ride out any downturn.  

. +1It'll be closer to the 5% on a small purchase, closer to the low end of that range on a $1m purchase.They don't scale up and down in a proportional linear fashion. 

We ride it hard.

You can ride it out or hit them with a bill.

For those who ride motorcycles, that is stated somewhat differently, but the point is clear;  'dress for the slide, not the ride'. 

Everything else will work for some period of time but will fail much quicker than the 'good old fashion' methods... and the worst part is that you will have no idea it has failed until the floor joist have rotten out and the tub is sinking (yeah... the last renovation we did we had to tackle this exact issue from someone else's 'renovation').

You don't want to be stuck with a property that costs you money out of your pocket every month that is also losing value.If you have a property that cash flows, you can ride out any market turn.  

Share the wealth honor the investor so you always have them.. granted many folks do these things on their own and that's fine.. but if your scaling a business more likely than not your going to need money partners in some form or fashion.

I’ve been scanning the mls sites daily and talking to everyone in my center of influence about houses in a kind of discreet fashion.

If the cumulative total was less, then you would pay tax only on the difference without impacting the rest of your exchange.And you can use the proceeds in any fashion you want.