I certainly can't tell you, but I will say that your chosen areas are a solid bet for rising rents.

Bet you drive out of your way to avoid going thru L.A.

I'll bet you have lots of stories about the history of that deal.

Perhaps in the future, you instead just give a plate of cookies, a dried soup in a jar that's colorful and pretty (I did this for tenants and my own neighbors), a Christmas ornament, or something along those lines.Also, I'm willing to bet that your Tenant A needs you to deposit checks quickly because that's how they budget.

I bet a team of painters could have been in and out in a day or two.

The amount of labor that was spent on ripping out the copper was huge...I bet at the end of the day, they didn't make much more per hour than if they would have just gotten a minimum wage job.

I don't know your reasons, but you do, and I'm willing to bet that you have more options than you are currently considering.

Is my best bet to sell and use the equity to put towards another investment property, refinance now and then rent it out, or to rent it out and refinance later?

I would bet that the lender quoting you rates at 3.875% couldn't get your loan from start to close in three weeks in order to honor the legally binding contract you entered on the contract. 

Still, they own less than 2% of all U.S. rental homes, according to Green Street.The buying spree amounts to a huge bet that the homeownership rate, which currently is hovering around a five-decade low, will stay low and that rents will continue to rise.