With nicer weather on the horizon would anyone be interested in meeting up in Ottawa at a restaurant/coffee shop to talk shop?

If flippers focus on ARV's and being very conservative, and they buy properties right, there is going to be a lot of opportunity on the horizon. 

If your son is earning income through his rental and college is on the horizon, check into that more.

I came across Horizon Corp. and The Colonial Act of 1994.

If the provider has capacity have them provide you with a letter of commitment with a sufficient time horizon to get your project completed.

Look harder at your area, expand your horizons a little and keep searching. 

Keeping in mind that you'd be moving unsecured debt (no collateral) to secured debt, I would recommend doing what you suggest if you confident in your employment situation during the time horizon that it would take you to pay down $27k, and if you are confident that you will not run up more credit card debt now that your balances are freed up.Beneath enjoying the entrepreneurship of it all and investing in something concrete, you fundamental goal is to do better than you are doing today.

First, we would concede that over a 39-year time horizon it is highly likely that the value of the property would easily cover any net profit losses, though that fact would not necessarily effect cash flow needs.

What I can't figure out is, long term, how to get the funds I would need to scale my portfolio to a point that would replace our income in what I think is a pretty generous time horizon (10 yrs).

I think you need to sit down and write out a mini plan that covers your life goals, your investment philosophy including time horizon, and criteria for investments.