I like their portal, because I feel that I am able to have a good idea of the status in processing of my loans, but I would be intentional about the loan officer I work with. 

If the answer is yes, then it's a no brainer to make minimum payments on your 2.8% interest rate mortgage, and use the funds that you would have paid extra to pay it down faster, to either invest in more real estate, the market, or anywhere else where you can get a ROI > 2.8%.If the answer is no, then feel free to aggressively pay it down as fast as possible, to become debt-free faster, and just have a large amount of money in savings or to splurge with.The bottom line is that your 2.8% mortgage is GOOD debt.

Do I have skills to add value so instead of getting 15% on deals, I can get 18% (self-maintenance, self-management, rehab). 

Feel free to reach out if you still have questions.

Yep, every deal needs heavy value add, complete re-tenanting or something else to make sense.

Personally, my primary residence has appreciated around 6% in market value and I live in Levittown. 

You will also need about 6 months of reserves deposited in a traditional financial institution rather than a crypto account.The next step is to find the target property and calculate the acquisition costs and costs of construction along with the after-repair value. 

You can make a real case for either decision, so - and I can't believe I'm saying this - do what feels good.

How did you add value to the deal?

Depreciate 75% of the building value (excluding land) over 27.5 years for significant tax savings.