I would consider the opportunity costs of not doing a refi now and not buying another investment property now, while sellers are more flexible and buyers are increasingly having more negotiating power when it comes to price, concessions and repairs.

The current leases do not go into much detail on how the current property manager handles non-separated utilities so I thought I would reach out to you all.In the event that a property has utilities or services payable by the tenant but are not separately metered, what is the most efficient way to handle billing said tenants in regards to ease of self managing? 

In fact, you can combine this with an SEO expert, and for relatively few dollars create a powerful and profitable “persona” whereby you have potential listing leads contact you.  

There are no shortcuts, only efficiency...and they are not the same thing. 

Also, it’s depends on my negotiating power and current bids for property.

It's the most powerful thing you can do 

She is on a fixed income and I know any rent increase would give her less spending power on herself.

Here's a guide that describes what good cash flow looks like and how to analyze a property.https://www.biggerpockets.com/...Read about the power of leverage.

I also understand the power of commercial / large multi family investments, considering my family's multi-family home is under an LLC, but I also see how much work it can be.All in all, it would be nice to hear from anyone in the BiggerPockets community, specifically- what everyone recommends as the best way to get started in NJ, what makes sense for my situation, and what areas do you see the most cooling / opportunities in.

The simple but not perfect math is that every 1% increase in interest rates translates to a 10% decrease in buying power.