@Michael Blank had a recent podcast, #146, that talks about loans and has some great information.

Not sure what kind of investors you are looking for but lets assume they are accredited investors, which generally means they've had some decent successes in life and didn't get there by staring at an eye chart. 

A few good ones I know of are:-Jake and Gino-Michael Blanke-Mark KenneyThese will cost some money, so if you can't invest that much yet, consider finding other syndicators in your markets of interest and find a way to bring them value.

You will be staring at a fine I am sure.

Michael Blank's Syndicated Deal Analyzer is one of the more popular options out there.

Which leads me to ask you for your advise, here are my thoughts and plans for this property: bought this property, front yard and back yard were pretty much a blank space - which we loved because we can totally customize it to our personality and liking - in fact, we just finished our front yard landscape earlier this month (pictures are below), want to work on the backyard next, in due time of course.So in hopes of forced appreciation and equity, I'll refi the property in the next few months and use the equity to re-invest in another property?

Just because a title company has blank notes in the storage closet they have been using for years doesn't mean they are current, after all, they aren't in the lending business. 

When I stared out, I had planned to be "retired" by now.

You could be staring at what a normal STR year is like for you.

It's a bit of typing to create one from scratch...lawyers just fill in the blanks, well their paralegals do, so not too expensive to go that route.