This reduces my monthly payment by ~$100 a month.Am I correct to think that I am essentially paying $3500 for this refinance?

I started wholesaling and learned people like to work with verbal communications and no one had an interest to want to put any type of co wholesale of joint venture agreement together.

Do you rely on local property managers, or do you have your own systems in place for things like maintenance, tenant communication, and rent collection?

Quote from @Christina Barry: You are correct.

Failing to budget correctly for repairs or not accounting for unexpected expenses can cause you to go over budget.

Definitely not, if you don't pick a correct property at a correct price. 

Don't be afraid to purchase the lower tier real estate the second go around if you are focused on the correct fundamentals.

You are correct, small multi listings in A/B markets are less common, but do come on occasionally.

I believe this information should be shared before they take your 8000.00  Open Spaces program created a Facebook page (for Alumni of the program) to allow all cohorts to communicate and ask each other real estate investment questions even after the 3 months program closed.

So, you can't simply trust them to handle things on your behalf and often communication is challenging especially if they choose to make it that way.