Well placed for growth, about to refinance for the first time

[Trevor Fields]

Hi everyone!  I'm new here, clearly. 

So I'm getting ready to refinance one of my homes.  I live in a low/medium COL area in the west, it's growing very quickly.  I own 2 homes in the same neighborhood.  

Home #1.  I've lived here for a while, I've done a bunch of repairs, and improved the value of the home quite a bit.  A lot of the work is very thoughtful.  It's a single family home in a desirable place.  Totally renovated basement is almost complete (minor details left) I've expanded the sq footage, and added Master bed/bath.  Unable to turn it into a duplex.  

Home #2. Just down the street, still desirable neighborhood. Older home, rental property. Currently breaking even on a monthly basis after PITI and other expenses. Has a grandmother unit, needs more work, longer story than I need to get into.

I'm going to be refinancing #1 for the first time, this will happen sometime this month. I've never dealt with banks to refinance before, but I'm confident that I'll be able to cast a wide enough net to be able to put at least 5-10 banks offers up on a spreadsheet and compare numbers. I'm also confident that with my credit and the fact that not enough people are refinancing in this current economy, that I'll have multiple banks competing for rates with each other. I'd like to approach the next couple years from a BRRRR strategy, and I'll need between 75-100 K for the next moves I plan to make with the multi family unit.

Despite owning one home for 7 years and the other for 4 years, what are some good strategies while refinancing?  I'm definitely going to start by finding as many offers as I can first.  What can I expect as the next step from the banks?  Appraisals, and then what?  Are there any decent strategies to try to negotiate better rates from these banks?