The rents were much higher, allowing every penny of the current equity to pull their weight.

I work with 2 proactive agents - and they consistently own the other side.Such agents that do are worth their weight in Gold.

Conducting business isn't always black or white, there are many grey areas that might be technical violations and the business owner needs to weight that as a business decision, just like speeding in your car, weigh the risks and rewards, and ask yourself if you'd be the other guy. :)                  

I guess my advice might not carry as much weight as others who have been investing for decades.. but I'm wayyyyy against spending money on "Coaches" or "Mentors".

A little more info, an income approach alone is not used to set value, as there are 3 approaches and one is selected which is given the most weight, but all 3 are used to establish value.

I wish I could refinance them at under 4 percent (or even 5), but when I have looked at consolidation, they just consolidate under a weighted average of existing interest rates, so the savings is minimal and then the debt is lumped into one big loan rather than a bunch of small ones that you can chip away at and reduce your monthly obligation as you go.

This will carry weight if you get sued for bugs or they try to blame them on you.

You may also consider weighting some more of your portfolio in REITS or buying a portfolio with REIT components.

How much weight does the PVA's fair market value have when negotiating a deal?

Hello Heather,I'm also new to the real estate investing so I'm not really sure if my opinions hold any weight, but I believe  under your circumstances, wholesaling real estate might be your best bet to gaining capital without that much extra money with definitely no credit needed.You can also look in to owner financing while gaining positive cashflow.