You're net worth on paper may decrease but you're still making money... assuming rents don't sharply decline, which is unlikely.

You might make 900/month on those 3 Gastonia properties that are the same price as one Harrisburg property that only cash flows 200/300 per month On the other hand, the Gastonia properties will have high turnover and the occasional drama from vacancy and/or needed repairs, that will decrease their valueLots to consider:  nothing is ever easy :)I can't imagine managing properties from across the Country. 

I wouldn't advise someone in Real Estate to milk applications because even if the pulls combine, the underwriters will still see the number of new accounts, and the AAOA (average age of accounts) will decrease significantly with the number of new accounts being established.

But does such a conversion add or decrease value/appeal for later sale?  

Kerri - thanks for the  post ...consider  2 steps :1)  refinancing the  FHA loan to a conventional loan  to  eliminate the  FHA mortgage insurance  ..the  note rate might be  slightly higher than your present 3.875%  rate  but the  removal of the  FHA MIP  will likely leave you with a significantly lower  payment  that you have now  .2) use a  HELOC ( home equity line of  credit )  to  payoff  whatever  other  debts  need to be consolidated .....the  required payment on these  are  " interest only " payments so try to make a  larger than  required payment so the line balance can  decrease ......rates  are in the  5-7%  range ....interest paid  no longer can be written off  .......most lenders  will  go to a 90% cltv ( combined loan to value ) level on these  ( as long as you qualify)

Value adds are increase rents, convert owner utilized sheds to tenant rentable space, decrease property taxes, shift some utilities to tenants, late fees, application fees.I agree with your statement about paying themselves more if they wanted too.

Buying for cash increases cash flow on ONE property but it decreases the overall amount of cash flow that can be generated on that capital invested.Leverage is risky and will take down BP investors in the next crash. 

A small decrease in rents (for whatever reason) would result in a lot of lost equity.

I looked at their proposals and found that it decreases my monthly cash flow from the investment quite considerably, so I’m trying to understand if its worth it or is it better to look for someone on the side to do the job for less.Thank you!

Interest are going up, but if we hit a bump in the next two or three years it'll pause not decrease prices and rents.