However, I intentionally chose not to pay off all my houses so that I’d still have money in the bank and could use that extra money for other things (i.e. buy more rentals, private lending, kids colleges, etc).So, as important as your values are, money is important too when it comes to investing.

We followed the Dave Rasmey method pretty rigorously up to step 4 (have an emergency fund and pay off all consumer debt.)

  $80K is a good salary, so that would leave a lot of extra money to pay down that debt.  

Just take into consideration and try to find quotes for:-lenth of trench needing dug (service line to home)-water line and other materials required-labor for what you dont want to do-grass seed etc to restore yard-extra $ for when you cut thru something when digging that wasn't marked

If you are profitable and would like to make extra payments at any time to reduce interest and loan term, you have the option to do so. 

So it's all in those extra details as to what the numbers will be.

I know it's extra work for you, which I *totally* appreciate, but I'd like you to start from scratch with a new lender, these rates are EVEN LOWER than before, by a LOT, and I want to take advantage of that.

Do they come with extra fees?

Personally I want to see a sponsor that has gone through at least one full real estate cycle with little to no money lost, uses conservative leverage and projections, put significant skin in the game and has competitive/reasonable fees and splits.The thing is that the majority of these really experienced sponsors have built up very enthusiastic investor bases over time, so they are generally not going to crowdfunding sites (where they would have to pay an extra fee) or spending time on forums.

FHA sounds real nice due to the low down payment which is what i'm after so i can use the extra money to "update" the home, but i'm worried that the homes i'm looking for wont pass inspections with FHA.