Rates have changed things, but I have good cash flow n San Diego and would have outstanding cash flow if I had not extracted value. 

The 401k contribution reduction resulting from the deduction for self-employment tax, may-or-may-not play a role in your particular scenario, yet may still be meaningful for another investor.

Do you think unemployment numbers are less meaningful since labor participation is at an all-time low?

It was never meant to convey the information you're extracting from it. 

But there are too many factors to consider for someone to give a meaningful advice on BP.

Zip codes are nor very meaningful.

I had also worked with legal agreements for many years, although I am not an attorney.If you don't feel you have that level of confidence handling the drafting you might be well advised to have an attorney with some meaningful background in drafting business operating agreements assist you.

You typically would have to sit on at least 35%+ equity to get anything meaningful out of a HML cash-out.If that is not a possibility, there are some lenders that don't require a lot of money down and get their money back at the end of the loan.

Can anyone here provide some meaningful and experienced opinions?

If. once you change jobs as so many of us do relatively frequently these days, you move that to a self-directed IRA or 401(K) where you have broader investment choices such as real estate and private lending, then you have a path to actually grow that tax-sheltered savings to a meaningful amount and take advantage of the compounding benefits such plans provide.