High Supply of agents weakens demand for them as you have more people competing, and prices drop.....when the supply decreases, demand for them rises and prices rise as you have fewer agents competing. 

Note if you refinance them, your cash flow situation is likely going to be about where it was prior to the value add but your equity has increased and what you have actually invested has decreased.

We've all had to flex those creative muscles to navigate these days. 

This will decrease your relying on her for the marketing photos. 

It takes less money to generate the same 53K even do your cash flow decreased because its a more expensive loan which is paid directly from your cash flow. 

Brandon Turner had a great point when he stated that some vacation rental homes will likely sell now simply because the owner is bleeding money due to no/greatly decreased bookings. 

I have a few positions on oversold mREITs but looking to sell when they recover to about 40-45% of pre-crash value which would be the equivalent of their previous multiple of BV they were trading at precrash, based on my estimate of current BV decreases (both published and unpublished). 

What a great way to drastically decrease your living expenses.

My other assumption was that with a refinance, our monthly payment would decrease.

While it is certainly valuable to gather info from the experience of others, it's probably best to determine your own criteria of what makes a "grade" (whether income levels, population increasing/decreasing, crime rates, etc) rather than just take someone's opinion or marketing materials as the end all be all.