Paint companies put together their popular colors or what they forecast for that year as trending in fashion and based on "Region" but there is a reason the chip wall and fan decks are so all encompassing.

I am basically employing contractors that find leads on a commission based compensation.

New York City-based real estate investor building a high-performance portfolio of investments in Northeast Ohio where I grew up.

If he fudged on income, make him a lower offer based on what he reported:)You might not believe this, but people lie in this business!

However, since both units are rented this would be classified as an investment property in which case your rate will probably be 4.00% to 4.250% on a 30yr fixed depending on FICO credit score.The maximum loan to value for a cash-out transaction (investment property, duplex) is 70%.Based on the information you've provided it doesn't appear the value is high enough for the property to be eligible for a cash-out transaction but you can still remove PMI.If you want to send me a PM I can run a complete analysis to see if removing the PMI will offset the slightly higher interest rate.I'm also licensed in CA so if you're looking to purchase a property I can help with that transaction as well.

I would also like to build a network of reputable, integrity based individuals in my area.

I would look at it this way:On one hand, I can try to find a local bank that will like me enough (yes, it's a person-to-person relationship in these small banks) to give me the loan to refinance but they will do LTV or LTC whichever is LOWER and will usually use the current NOI as the bases of valuation. 

If that's the case,  you have locked in a low property tax base, and a fantastic (high paying, easy to find, easy to manage, etc.) tenant profile, which I would not want to loose.

Oil based heaters tend to be more robust and can be fixed in expensively.If you can't get a 203(K) loan, run the numbers with hard money until you can refinance in 6 months or so.

You are assuming both markets are the same...and because of that, a $60k house in Ohio is the same as a $60k house in Memphis...and you'd be 100% wrong.That $60k house in Ohio, based on that market, could actually be a better house than the Memphis one.