If your current income will cover your increased expenses and you were planning on using a nest egg to invest then you will probably be alright.

Using a 90 or 95% option is not a bad idea either for properties that require better cash flow.

When you sell using a 1031 structure you are not going to pull cash out immediately following the same or that will trigger taxes.

Since I'm committed to only putting $100,000 at risk, what means should I explore to best put this capital to work so that I can continue to accumulate cash-flow properties using as little of my own cash as possible.

Doesn't the seller have the right to deny an offer if the seller doesn't like the financing method (which I would assume includes using specific brokers).Btw, on top of those two specific questions is this (very real) situation that we often come across -- we'll have an FHA buyer who is using a mortgage broker that we've dealt with in the past.

Using the 50% rule I would have to offer 30k for the first home to cash flow almost $100 every month at that rent using a 30 yr loan...

@Kim Handelman Understand the difficulty but always prefer being local, even if using a manager it's nice to be able to be there if issues arrise. 

I am wanting to buy 2 single family homes using a conventional loan or 2.

., selecting a cap rate that reflects the value at the most recent sale rather than using a true "market" cap rate).

Now there are programs out there like the 203k and Portfolio Lenders may have some unique programs...but just sticking to the basics, these are the percentages.Conventional Loan Example:ARV = $150,000Purchase Price: $125,000Cost to Rehab: $10,000Residential Loan Amount (80%of the Purchase Price and not the ARV): $100,000 (Meaning you would need to bring $25,000 to the closing+closing costs+reserves+cost to rehab)Commercial Loan Amount (75% of the Purchase Price and not the ARV): $93,750 (Meaning you would need to bring $31,250 to the closing+closing costs+reserves+cost to rehab)As you can see...the ARV doesn't matter with Conventional Financing unless you are using a 203k or other type of Construction to Perm Loan.Hard Money Lenders will look at the ARV of the property and will typically loan between 65-70%ARV.