I'm almost at the point I cannot pay retail any longer as it's always cheaper to develop our own new buildings or systems. https://www.alibaba.com/produc...

You can still find cashflowing properties in the STR areas people have been investing in, butit is just hard to find "great cashflowing" properties producing +25% cash on cash returns when planning accordingly for capex.

We then refinanced the property and it has given us $140k in cash back and continually produces $1,800/month in cash flow. 

Don't ever sell unless you have a rock-solid plan to invest in something that produces a better return or moves you closer to your goals.

There are dozens of other marketing routes but in my experience, they do not produce the highest quality potential buyer leads.

In truth, you do not need to invest where you live as there may be better markets that produce better cash flow with solid capital appreciation in many areas throughout the US.

We no longer want to sacrifice any of my wife's income to invest in our rentals and only want to grow with the income that the business produces.

People looking for safe, income producing investments, with tax benefits.

I also have to mentioned that the biggest advantage of using AI is for internal company usage, especially in a companies where it has multiple product, multiple supplier , or producing very competitive product ; company like home depot , medical device or even Adobe, can really make killing productivity by leveraging AI.For people in tech, the ability of AI to generate a code , a database or to articulate complex system , is very valuable.I have been moving from search engine to AI too in last few months and result was great.

The results they produce will be used by your accountant when you file, but with that strategy you know it was done correctly and with the lens of your greatest benefit.