Currently sitting at about 42k in renovation cost with another 5-7k to complete and have the property move in ready by mid March. 

Great, apparently there are giants swaths of unused land sitting in LA, SF, and NYC just waiting to be developed.

Secondly, you could use a HELOC instead of a cash out refi so that you only pay for interest as you use the funds, rather then refinancing, sitting on a pile of money and making higher monthly payments as you wait to put it to work.

Decided to sit this one out. 

I don’t recall giving an EMD prior to seeing a contract on any deal I have done, even HUD.

Many times they are sitting on them.  

We are taking it slow but currently have a trip planned to sit-down with the agent we have lined up and he has agree to take me around and show me what fits into my plan I have outlined to him in a previous phone conversation.My feelings are that you can easily expand into this area but my only recommendation based upon your primary jobs is to take it slow.  

Let it sit for twenty minutes, then sponge-mop it off.

Do something on your property daily, Don’t let it sit idly and forget about it.

Need to do a more detailed analysis here but I would expect relatively low cap-ex in the next 10 years.Home is in a good area (on a quiet street but still walkable to restaurants/bars/parks, schools are average to above average)Expected rent would be about $1500/m based on quick analysis of current listingsOur new location we're moving to will be about 10-15 mins awayI would like to manage this property myself but budget for property mgmt anywayIf I get into this and HATE being a landlord, or decide owning rentals isn't right for me, I have 2 years to figure that out and at that time could still sell the home and not pay any LTCG tax on the proceedsShort term goal: Since my personal situation will inhibit my time and ability to pursue scaling a rental property business in the short term (say 5-10 years), the goal of renting this property out will be to pay it off as quickly as possible and let it sit there providing good monthly cash flow, or possibly refi to lower monthly payment and increase cash flow if the payoff timetable isn't short enough.Long term goal: I would tentatively like to scale into owning maybe 10 or so rental properties at my time of retirement (say 20 years from now) to provide good cash flow in early retirement, and to keep me busy.