Your best bet is to find out the auction date and go.   

While this is at least something, I just want to make sure that I'm maximizing my current cash reserves before exhausting it on a single option which provides a low amount of cash flow.So I'm just trying to work through all of this and determine what the best course of action is with respect to making progress at a reasonable pace in my market.

They don't just jump up and grab you, but it's a fair bet that active investors in your area know people with retirement accounts who are looking for safer investments and less volatility than the stock market.Network with other investors.

If they only post the registered agents info your best bet would be a skip tracer.

The property has to be your primary residence for 2 of the last 5 years to get a section 121 exclusion on capital gains of $250K/$500K (single/married) But I bet he doesn't want to live there for the next 2 years. 

I believe my best bet is to refinance to a conventional loan and try to get another FHA loan.

Best bet, call your lender.  

You can bet I'll be doing my banking there, as well as other real estate deals.

What's going to be my best bet with this equity we in these houses

I've made plenty of mistakes (nothing colossal) and none have derailed my progress.