Whereas a straight cash-out re-fi will automatically increase your payments and thereby kill your cash flow immediately.

I know taxes and regulations and land lease can be rough there as opposed to Big Bear which is pretty straight forward and fairly easy to print money. 

I would strongly urge you to graduate straight to an accounting software package, rather than try to craft your own using spreadsheets.We use QuickBooks Online, but there are plenty of tools out there that are inexpensive and easy to use.Time spent getting organized now will save you thousands of dollars in rework by an accountant or bookkeeper later.

This is very straight forward and common situation.

This seems pretty straight forward to me, but outside of having my wife's fathers house as a rental in California, I've only bought and sold primary residences.I really appreciate the insight.  

However, a straight refi (no cash out) on the current balance of two of the homes would yield approximately approximately $300 to $400 each in monthly cash flow while remaining relatively safe against a downturn, given the mortgage would be about 40 or 45% LTV. 

If not, I always think your first "investment" should be your primary residence, whether that's a house hacking opportunity with a basement apartment for Airbnb/short-term rentals or just a straight up owner-occupied home.Have you talked with a lender?

If you were going to start a full time flipping business, I might say go ahead and consider quitting because that's just another job.

If you are looking for low stress and very little work you could invest with a Syndicator now review the docs in detail as some are not straight forward.

Just straight information and super friendly atmosphere.