As a way to scale quickly and reach a target goal (25+ units), I have discussed partnering with 3 cousins and each person puts in $20k with equal equity, and I will be the manager and make major decisions for 1% annual fee. 1) Am I being too generous for only 1% fee and equal equity?

You could flip a couple of properties to build up your cash to purchase a larger property and then scale from there. 

I’ts becoming A DIFFICULT decision if I should sell or refinance them.The goal is to scale up and 1031 exchange these properties if the numbers are right since my refinance came in a little lower than I expected.Or to refinance and keep them and use the proceeds to ultimately find an added value property.

In multifamily, to achieve a high level of scale it almost impossible to wear all the hats (raising capital, finding deals, etc).

the key is scale.  

@Rick Pozos D4D works to a point, unless you have someone driving for you, it is hard to scale.

I do my own campaigns by hand, I just like the personal touch and I get around 20% response rate but I do more small scale, 50-100 a week writing them in my free time it's been effective thus far.

There are entities that can are created to allow you to scale without such a high administrative and monetary demand - entities such as the Series LLC.

Have you ever thought about scaling faster with rental arbitrage?

I’ve done all the work myself but my most recent project I brought in a general contractor to help scale my business.