Here in our state, I'd wrap the underlying loan for a seasoning period (3-6 months) making payments to your partner and then refinancing when the seasoning comes up, also giving time for rates to improve through the year.  

You've already made some good moves – sealing holes, unclogging weep holes, and improving drainage with a French drain and gutters.

Extremely low vacancy rates, very low turnover, maximized rent trough improvements, create high resident satisfaction etc - all add up to a critical advantage over a 10 year period.I feel lucky that have landed in a market which had both cash flow and appreciation over the last decade. 

Renting modest homes/units is a large part of why my portfolio is resilient in a down market as well.As I said last week, take some time now to improve / harden your properties to remain robust against any potential downturn.

Once upon a time the standard commissions for both sides was 6%, that has since dropped in many areas to 5-5.5% This is to be expected as the technological improvements and the information available to buyers and investors is more accessible and in theory the quantity of work demanded to identify a buyer a suitable property is lower. 

Is BP letting us talk politics now that there is new ownership and a lot of rules seem to have changed?

Not to mention the GL is usually only about 15% of your overall insurance cost.I'd suggest asking your lender to put into writing what is the maximum risk they will allow you to take and then give those guidelines to your broker and see if they can improve on your current program.

I have not ruled out buying existing and that is a very viable option. 

Additionally, are there any other rules of thumb or key indicators you would recommend monitoring to ensure operational efficiency and profitability?

@Jack Jiang The Bay Area is a different animal and the rules and strategy are different than the generic stuff on BP.