That, coupled with interest rates being so high, make it hard to find a house that will cashflow right off the bat.

It seems like the others are telling you to take the practical approach to the situation and you are going to be better off exerting the energy and money in new opportunities.

However, a good team can make OOS investing worthwhile, and it's been proven.There is only one question left, are you a hand's on investor willing to add sweat equity, or are you a hand's off investor who wants to leverage money to buy labor and skills to achieve your goal?

Take em down, cut em up, haul em off.

I bought it for $170K and 2.5 years later its worth $185K.Is it better to keep the rental (as part of my retirement planning) as a long- term investment or should I sell, pay off all consumer debt ($67K) and put the left over cash in IRA, 401K, HYSA?

$80k is way too low for a hands off garage conversion ADU in LA.  

For us, furnishedfinder leads have dropped off somewhat since the pandemic, but I don't think that is the fault of FF.

When you depreciate that portion of the asset, you reduce your basis, and ultimately increase your future tax liability in exchange for the write off in the current year.1) What is your short/long term plan with the property? 

Happy to share some experiences I've had as someone who started off by investing out of state. 

After the property is renovated and rented out, they seek to refinance the property with a traditional mortgage to pay off the hard money loan and potentially extract some cash.However, some lenders impose a seasoning period for refinancing, which means that you must hold the property for a certain period (often six to twelve months) before refinancing is allowed.