We probably put too much into improving the properties but I prefer to have a safe house to rent and one that can attract a better tenant, and so far we're 2 for 2.  

You have to honor current lease.. if they seem ok then keep them.. give proper notice of renewal to your lease when that comes up and any rent increase at that time also.. if you want them to go you give them notice of non-renewal.Download your state landlord tenant laws and get a copy of the lease so you know current terms so you can have that all figured out. 

I'm attracted to the scale-ability that they afford.

Advantage of flipping is big profits quickly to increase capital.

The only thing that it could do is lower the amount you can borrow for the investment due to increasing your DTI, but 10k isn't that much. 1.9% is pretty low and should be easy to out perform the debt...

Own property next to a Dollar General Store and looking for a business/idea that would complement DG, attract their  client/customer base

To start - need to research deep and a lot of due diligence.High price will put you out of market, low price attract low quality tenants.

I also assumed that smaller tile would increase the labor cost due to the extra time required.

If in about 3-4 months I go to refinance to pull my cash out, will the appraiser be able to justify a higher valuation based solely on the market rent increase?

It talks about where their is demand, where rents are increasing and decreasing.