50% rule and Refi

[Bryan P.]

Obviously a wise person would put away 6 months to 1 year of operating expenses for any property. Assuming that one did this, when following the 50% rule, is the property then labeled "self-sufficient?"

If this is true, one would theoretically buy alot of properties with not alot of reserve/emergency cash and credit. (Oh wait, that's me.) Am I thinking correctly here?

I'm trying to determine whether I should refinance my two properties into longer terms so I can actually meet the 50% rule. Before I started reading BP, I didn't know any of this and I had already acquired the two properties on 15 and 10 year notes (stupid). So now I have two properties that aren't even meeting 25%, let alone 50%. I'll lose thousands of dollars by refinancing due to closing costs, but it might be worth it.