My schedule is somewhat flexible so I hope this is feasible.  

This seems much more flexible as far as exit strategy goes.  

My question is, do you think there is a downside in telling him about 1031 exchanges in hopes to get him more flexible on price.

I would like to leverage my money so that I can use it more effectively and have some flexibility.

I would reccomend finding local community banks and credit unions because they are more flexible with that.

I would probably be able to initially get a remote job (=somewhat flexible time) that would pay the bills.I am thinking of putting down enough on each unit to generate the cash-flow to generously cover expenses, and roll that cash-flow into expending the business.As far as I am looking at it the maths and my spreadsheets check out but as the title of this post says, I'm a newbie and would appreciate feedback.Oh, if you are an experienced real estate investor in those areas I mentioned, and can't seem to figure out how to stay organize, scale and automate your business, drop me a line I can probably help.Thanks!

If you wanted to pay it off early (i.e. 3-5 yrs) you could just make extra payments, but you'd have the flexibility not to and you wouldn't have to worry about a balloon payment in the near future. 

A partial list of soft skills that are essential to real estate are: communication negotiation personal accountability responsibility emotional intelligence listening skills etiquette empathy curiosity collaboration creative thinking willingness to learn flexibility - See more at: http://www.thenatureofrealestate.com/soft-skills-a...

And secondly: what contingency do you all use for the most protection and flexibility?

Late fees can be applied in a flexible manner as well.