I plan to buy and hold, and eventually trade up within the next 5 - 10 years.

However, per section 1402,  just because a rental activity is treated as a trade or business for passive activity purposes does not automatically mean it is subject to self-employment taxes.

The trade wars triggered by Trump and the 10 years since the last bottom in 2008 is my sign to sell.

You may be able to pull out more but sacrifice cash flow, but you are trading risk for speed. 

A few weeks ago I went to a REI meetup but was kind of disappointed when I arrived and sat thru a presentation where they talked about financial freedom trading time for money then offered to sell me their education for $20k and from what I've seen that is pretty cheap compared to some others.

Once you have all the info the only thing I can provide is doc checks of trades you wish to hire; to insure you are properly protected during and after the job.

@John Thedford  in our market any sub trade or service type business is flourishing..

In NW Indiana, you'll find most MFs (anythings say 3 units and up) trading at a 6 cap on the MLS.

Your cash flow will be much, much higher, but the trade off is you get to deal with big headaches.

In any case,  The triplex I'm probably going to hold for a while longer,   but the duplex is a good candidate for trading up.