In my state it's not terribly expensive and I want it to be a business so mentally, making it a business forces me to treat it as one.

I will be refinancing over the next couple of months now that I have the equity I need and will get rid of my PMI which will help boost my cash flow.

@Mike H.is correct, the leverage can boost your returns SIGNIFICANTLY.

I would start there.If you can validate that it is a legit ESA with a dr note from a registered Mental Heathcare provider (and not an internet drs note), then you may have to allow, which also means you can't charge deposits because these types of animals are not considered pets. 

Channeled my frustrations into energy to educate myself on anything and everything REI and once ready financially and mentally, pounced on the deals.

Don't waste your mental energy on establishing who agents/lenders/shortage of appraisers is at fault.  

Either get a short sale started or forget about it, and don't believe everything sellers in distress tell you.....my best deals have all involved an owner in distress due to some some perceived "injustice", mental/drug/alcohol issue, etc......and trust me, it was Never their fault.

Would a little cash injection boost it?

I remember the best years ago when my father was teaching me all about rental real estate in Australia.It was not unusual to had several European generations living in a home & they often collected a substantial amount of urine to boost the soils deficient in N, K & P under the fruit trees we had on the properties.

A few years go by and then the Internet gets a large boost in growth due to people who are looking for anonymous chat rooms, pornography, or other types of behaviors in which people want to remain anonymous.