childhood friend's home. they wanted pay off to move to larger home How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

if there is a bunch of quick and easy things for them to inspect and mark you down for they may not look for larger (more expensive) items. 

I just closed on a cash out refinance to take advantage of the low interest rates, going from a 4.75% interest rate down to 2.99% and although I technically have a larger loan, I'm paying less monthly for the mortgage!

If one of the agents has more experience in the rental market, has more carriers, can handle commericial Insurance (ie for larger properties), etc. 

Using that relationship to get the property under contract for well under market value, only to resell for a profit larger than your sellers commission is not allowed. 

Use funds to renovate homes on a larger scale, sell the ones that you don't want, and roll the profits into better ones.The hardest part is building a team and having the funds to build something bigger.If you want to do this in Provo, we can chat.Buying crap is easy, building something is harder but rewarding.

Got another quick question: I’m still not fully set on if I want to house hack a larger multi family or get a single family on a conventional loan and rent out.

That said, you have a choice to keep them on the current lease month to month or you can give them a new lease.  

@Matt Maitz depends on how large the property and loan size is.For larger syndicated deals you can raise the capital needed for the capital stack outside what the lender will fund. 

I'm most familiar with Texas markets and Houston and DFW generally have larger units than Austin and San Antonio.