We spent too much and overshot the neighborhood, so the comps simply didn't justify the valuation we were hoping for. - Be patient.

Filter, heater, etc is simply removed.  

It's a decent little rental that produces some cash flow, but we simply got traditional financing for it, requiring at least 20% down.

His rationale is that when he's looking at my tax returns he's looking at my write offs, such as depreciation, repairs/ renovation, mortgage interest, and concluding that since I'm writing off "x" amount, that I'm actually negative cash flow.

Is it simply that most off market deals require cash?

You are simply replacing your current loan with a new loan, and the difference (after closing expenses) is what you receive at closing.

@Ben Nelson mentioned the sage wisdom of correctly setting team members, that is a whole lot harder today because things are at such a level with so many factors at play and fact is the vast majority simply do not have the resource pool to have a truly well equipped internal team or knowledge base, it is a very small number of us who do. 

Refinancing the duplex might make sense simply because I'd have it under a non-VA loan and could then go buy a new second home using another VA loan.

You won't be able to simply look on zillow and find a house in atlanta you'll be able to BRRRR and cash flow on while getting anything close to 100% of your money back out on a refinance.

@Tracy WilliamsonI don't want to sound too hard but, You should ask yourself why did I "invest" any money in this deal.Real investment means you have looked at this deal and have concluded  yourself that you are going to have a return on your investment.