Bad news travels faster now-a-days than it ever has.

My wife and I just bought our first home less than a year ago, and I have healthy bit of disposable income every month that I would love to somehow use to fuel some real estate investments.

When I bought my duplex in December, the owner wanted to move out of the state to retire so he was motivated to unload the property.I would say that middle to lower tier areas typically cash flow higher due to the suppressed valuations due to the negative stigmatism.Typically sfhs appreciate faster than duplexes due to the diverse reason involved in sfh purchases ( finding the perfect school, cuteness factor, commutes etc).

If you really want debt to accomplish your goals faster, I have also looked into portfolio lines of credit.  

There is no seasoning period required on new properties and I can start turning my money faster.

Sure you can invest long distance, but when you are in a market full time you can become a local expert faster, and manage your investments better.

The goal as stated above is to garnish more cash flow per month, so we can use this to fuel more investment property down the road.

I wonder if it might be faster and more effective to call all of them in one day and ask to talk to a commercial banker and simply ask them what kind of loans their looking to make.

The appraisal came out lower probably because houses in your area sell faster and at higher prices than duplexes.

Under any other financing arrangement, you might take a hit on your credit report or have to sell the property that you have some equity in, to fix your situation, but that's not an option when they use strategies that are faster than foreclosure to take the property back.