Beyond that, if I had not that many houses all of them with a lot of debt I wouldn't be terribly comfortable ditching the W2.  

Put yourself in the shoes of everyone involved.

You have to put yourself in their shoes and try as much as possible to use logic, refer to the lease, but also be understanding where it makes sense. 

Many of the connections I've made are here in Minnesota and I just feel a bit more comfortable starting here. 

Hence, it would be good to calculate your cash flow after the cash out refinance to make sure you'd be in the positive after the refinance and that you are comfortable with the decreased cash flow.

(I'm a data scientist and feel comfortable crunching #s)Thanks!

The pension amount at age 39 is not enough for me to feel comfortable, so my long-term plans are to start a small business and invest in real estate to position myself where I don't even need my pension, and it's just a bonus.

This way is much slower, but is more comfortable b/c it doesn't involve having to move

Collin County seems to be over price, the same than Denton County, though you could find some deals there is always a challenge to find the right one.One thing to take in mind is the maintenance cost, Fort Worth has older houses that will cause issues on the maintenance, if you are looking low maintenance you will need to look a few and identify how you fell comfortable.

As an agent, my suggestion is to do what is right for you and what you can afford comfortably.