But once its sold, its certainly not making you any more money.You'll get a more favorable rate by doing a reduced leverage refinance, but almost every lender will put some kind of a prepayment penalty on there (usually ranging 3-5 years), so you won't be able to really "pull" from the equity consistently without incurring some financial implications, so it really does depend on what you are looking to do next.

We thought about hiring a lawyer but the legal fees were expected to be in the range of $10k to $15k and would have taken months (if not years).

I've managed C, B and A properties with rent ranging from $500 for a garage apartment up to luxury apartments.

If the rate of return is lower than 10%, the amount of money that remains in my pocket per year will be in the range of several hundred thousand yen to around one million yen, which is not that large amount of money.On the other hand, if the yield is as high as 20% or 30%, it's highly likely that the property has inherent risks in property management as described below.

Price range, what you intend to achieve in the future, or the preference of managing the two rental units are some considerations for choosing between an apartment complex versus a single house to live in for life.

I have a friend with a place like this in La Quinta, CA but those houses are way out of my range. 

If you add a 220 outlet for stove/range then it requires a permit.

Could range from minor to severe. - double tap: less than 30 minutes if repaired via a pig tail.  

I've rented properties ranging from 1 bedroom (by the room) to 4 bedrooms as MTRs.

You should be looking at markets that people are moving to, where you are bound to see huge growth.