Trade up.2024 will actually be more exciting, as balloon payments and anyone with an ARM loan comes due. 

You can trade vol just in different areas, real estate isn't one unless you're deep with money. 

Another path to consider is to sell them under a 1031 exchange and trade into higher-value real estate.

It's building slowly but surely, and I definitely want to keep 5k or so as an emergency fund.I have thought about renting out my current house or selling it outright and house hacking.

We have discussed selling the property and rolling it into a multi-family but again feel like we may be trading a fairly hands off property with good cash flow for one that may be a bit more labor intensive and only yield marginally better performance.Any advice on how to expand our rental portfolio/maximize its performance is greatly appreciated!   

I hope to have personal credit and tax issues resolved but I know that will be at minimum 6 to 8 months' time assuming no more medical emergencies or health issues.

I don't have any career worthy trade skills or college degree, so finding a higher income job is slim pickins for me.

Get a realtor, loan officer, GC, insurance agent, trades, etc. 

Emerging neighborhoods like Binghampton and Cooper-Young are getting popular.

Once these mortgages are paid off and/or generating more cash flow, we intend to use them as passive income for retirement and retain the option to access the equity for emergencies.