I'm not trying to avoid risk altogether, I just want it to be balanced.

Guess what happens after your Loan is paid off.... part of your mortgage is too and you still have a property that spits out money.If I was you I would be all in with RE but I have a feeling paying the higher balance off (if you haven't consolidated) would fit better with what you would like to do.let me know if this helps or you have questions.

The outstanding balance on the owner's mortgage is $70k and I could probably buy it for close to that.  

I would love recommendations for banks or brokers in the Charlotte market who understand the BRRRR concept, can analyze a balance sheet, and would welcome the opportunity to work with an investor with great credit/reserves looking to build a long term relationship. 

Maybe I am over-analyzing things, but I can't seem to convince myself at what balance in the property management account I will feel comfortable taking out the cashflow to invest in other properties.

@Brandon Clark,That 1% of balance thing is only if your payments are non-fully-amortizing. 

A guy might need to use a commercial loan so he didn't need a bunch of cash reserves (6 months of payments or 2% of the remaining balance or something).

@Joshua Lowery The mortgage balance is too high and the payments are much too high for you to make anything by staying in the middle.The only suggestion I can make is to write up a sub2 purchase for the mortgage balance and advertise it with an ad like this:"TAKE OVER MY PAYMENTS!

If you plan on living off your rental properties you need to have a very healthy cash balance somewhere or easy access to liquidity.

There are wide divides in the multifamily industry and depending on the loan amount there are different lenders (or lender products that you are looking for):Loans under $1M - local banks$1-5MM - Small balance Freddie$2-20MM - FHA (if you are looking for a longer term/fully amortizing debt)$5-50MM - Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac$10MM+ - Portfolio Lenders (large banks or insurance companies).