Much like a conventional brokerage, they hold funds and execute at your direction the transactions you choose. 

So my strategy would be to get a 70%LTV loan and mortgage from a bank and find maybe 1-3 debt investors to finance the rest.

I was going to just request a HML for just the purchase vs. the 70% ARV, as I can cover the entire rehab with my own funds but the cost difference does not seem to be worth putting up the extra $17,000.

For owner occ they have had pretty good rates and availability up to 90% of LTV.

we were able to take a line of 219k which was 80%LTV.  

Then saving the extra money for an emergency fund as well as your next down payment is much more important.Also when you go to get the second mortgage the bank is going to care more about you having reserves (more cash or assets that you can easily make liquid) than seeing you have paid down you mortgage some.  

This tax is a rent grab- an attempt for the city to increase revenue without providing any public service or accountability for the use of the funds.

I am just learning about DST however it seems like it locks up my funds and is complicated compared to what I am used to which is simply managing rental properties. 

Also, my relinquished property did not have any debt.Can I purchase the property in a cash transaction and thus satisfy the 1031 exchange, transfer our interest in the TIC into an LLC and then cash out refinance to have funds ready for the next deal? 

Im in the same boat as you right now, except my investor is just providing the funds, leaving me with everything else.