It depends all on what you are looking to achieve long term. 

Once you have your long term goals defined, you can break them down into shorter, more managable daily, weekly and quarterly goals and choose an effective real estate strategy to help you achieve your goals. 

What kind of returns are you looking to achieve?

The best path forward would be to determine what you would ideally achieve through real estate investing, and then dig into what opportunities best achieve that.Aapke saat, aapke liye 

@Harold Albertson good systems in place makes for smoother operations, ultimately achieving more profitability

However when considering the cash flow if I sell the 1st house and pay back the remaining loan,  $630/month would be the threshold I need to achieve to obtain a higher cash flow with that 80k from the sales. 

Pick up a model that you personally believe in or better yet create your own (but it can certainly be achieved down the road.

Maybe some suggestions on what moves to make next, because ultimately I want financial freedom and I believe I have the skill to achieve that.

If ever there is anything I can do to help you get a better understanding or to closer to achieving your investment goals, then feel free to reach out.

But if you’re looking at a rental and don’t have the equity to pull out, to get the down payment there might not be a reason to do the refinance if you won’t achieve your goal.