He simply wants to be 100% done.Given the above mentioned scenario, I am wondering what the best possible situation would be to make this happen, while possibly still maintaining the option to pull out equity for capital improvement projects with a bank. 

We're not likely to see major appreciation in the coming years, but I do think buyer sentiment will improve which will likely lead to better pricing via competitive offers vs. the current market. 

Will you have made improvements? 

I manually looked at all of the listings in order to find and exclude homes with significant improvements.

So maybe that's stacking savings, maybe paying down debt, improving FICO, or maybe it's raising capital, whatever, the details don't matter because there is 101 flavors out there, all that matters is what is your 1-Thing NOW, do that, THAT alone, with fanatical focus like a fat-boy on cake!

There are seasoning periods which means you have to wait if you want more cash out if the property because of property improvements, time passed or a combination of the two factors.

We significantly increased the property’s value by making strategic improvements.

As long as the arrangement is legitimate, you'll still be able to deduct eligible expenses like property taxes and maintenance costs.In terms of accessibility modifications, such as adding ramps, these could likely be deductible as capital improvements on a rental property.

I definitely need to improve my social game

So, identifying the low hanging fruit identifies the most gainful improvements you can make. 4.