You all giving me those links and all the extra information has far exceeded the answers I thought that I might get.

There are things you can do to save money if you need such as buying used washers and dryers or repairing a roof to delay replacement an extra couple years.

I love it for the guaranteed rent, tenant stability, additional accountability with the housing authority and large demand for Section 8 housing without enough supply.With strong screening, I'm able to find great tenants and Im not owed any rent.Cons you will often hear is that the tenants are harder on your properties (doesnt have to be the case in my experience if you screen really well), the Housing Authority is a pain to deal with (this depends on a couple things - how well run your local PHA is and how good you are at handling process & details) and the extra inspections/red tape make the niche unprofitable (see what I said above about Housing Authorities).Done right, I believe Section 8 is one of the most stable & profitable. 

It's not worth the travel and time to travel to a market to check on a property when your upside is a few extra hundred per month.

Large companies and equity firms obviously have more resources at their disposal than a small investor, but to me I couldn't help thinking about all of the tools and extra benefits we get as small investors.

My options are:-Refinance now and foot the extra bill and stay in this current home (I would be footing all future closing costs) and pour most of the money earned from the other sold home into the one I currently live in. 

Very possible biggest factors are can you find the deals that will be profitable (I work with auctions and that varies hugely) and how fast can you execute them and move to the next one, remember that you have time on the market and closing time once under contract (usually an extra month) before you get the capital back out. 

It may sound nice to pay a 6% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no additional fees.

But again its about recommending to them to pack a sufficient food and drink supply if a storm is possible.We also to try have ice melt and snow shovels on hand, extra blankets and stuff like that.To mitigate some of this think about a full time back up generator to keep the power.  

Sure, you can make your unit extra special through design or amenities but when most of your competition is similar in size/shape, those extra items can only warrant so much of an increase in ADR.