Prior to closing the house appraised for $470,000 through a third-party which the bank is now using as their valuation on their website.

A fiduciary must place the client's interest first and foremost above his own or that of any other party.  

Although both parties are happy with the agreement (payments and interest) we would like to pull our equity in these two properties to keep building our portfolio.Everyone makes it seem so easy to pull this equity out.

Account Closed the relevant part is that you think it will be worth $158k when the work is done, you should make your calculations on what it is worth to you now from that and the repair budget etc. 

Neither appreciation nor depreciation has much effect on the process.The best part is that you have little competition because the vast majority of investors look down their noses at ‘trailers’ and really don’t know how to monetize this lucrative niche.After 20 years of being in the business I’ve learned a little :)

I've heard sound arguments on both sides, but I generally feel that the money is the easy part. I

We are almost all settled with doing a 5% interest rate, 15-20% down and a 25 or 30 year amortization with a balloon at 15 years, with an option to extend that IF both parties agree.

I'm not seeing the math for how an insurance company gives both parties a better deal than they can work out on their own via security deposits. 

We’ve turned a lot of business away lately and have started considering third-party property management as a mutually beneficial way to expand our offerings.

There are already enough parties involved throughout a transaction.