The answer is very different for a multi family due to state wide rent control.You have the notice duration correct when tenant is on a month to month lease and has lived in the unit over a year.  

Because there are sparse multi families in the area, comps vary widely, from high crime urban areas  to rural farmhouses.

Otherwise your residents benefit and you won't until it is widely known that your utility costs have come down.

You will see a very wide range of product offerings in terms of loan-term, amortization, recourse, interest rates, LTV,  interest-only periods, and pre-payment penalties.

With the market moving so fast and information being widely available, I personally don't see the point. 

I also have a 16 panel solar array that's 5 years old that I could sell for maybe $5k with inverter batteries etc.

(I'm copying this over from the buying/selling forum)I've lived in a home for 20 years (it's a 50 year old, 1200 sq ft manufactured home, basically a double-wide trailer, that has very dated decor, drop ceiling, and in fair condition) and it's currently listed for sale.

I started this thread assuming we would have to sell our house to use the equity, but given the generous advice on this thread, it's pretty clear that HELOC / HEL might be the way to go, which in turn means we don't need to sell our current home to use the equity, and thus opens us wide to using that equity to fund our investments anywhere, not just bay area (sorry for the long run on sentence).

Do I subcontract out all the individual skills or try to find a handyman that can accomplish a wider array of items (like outlets, lighting fixtures, exhaust fans, LVP flooring, etc.) and then hire subs for specialty items (roof, siding repair, painters, etc.)?

We are going wide, before we go deep.