I can't imagine a bank declining to loan against it. 

Our plan is to buy one property each year all cash until the interest rate decline a little bit.We might have 5-6 properties by then and want to use the equity to buy multiple properties in the same location or maybe large apartment complexes in middle America.My question is: What is the best way to use this equity (since we will not have any mortgages) once the interest rate declines.Our ultimate goal is to have a substantial amount of monthly profit which will allow us to decrease the time we have to dedicate to our w-2 jobs. 

Drive by - saw the listing sign and made an inquiry - seller was motivated but declined our first offer.

Sounds like a good plan.On a side note, I have never purchased a property where there were risks of extended periods of vacancy or large rent declines; so, leverage is far down on my list of concerns. 

In pre-screen, you tell them your standards and make it clear if standards are not met, they will be declined.

Everything is negotiable so I would simply decline that. 

Stay away from cities that are posting year over year population declines.

Nearly every market on the list would also be on a list of "fastest declining rust belt cities".

If I'm buying an apartment complex in Michigan that I plan to hold for 10+ years, I'm probably using less than 3%, with the decline in population and job growth. 

I did more research on Cleveland, it seems like population in Cleveland is declining at a rate of 0.5% YOY.