Cost of loan vs BRRR

[Lloyd Stein]

I'm a newbie and the other day I was on the phone with a mortgage broker and when I asked him about rehabbing and refinancing he told me it wasn't a smart move. He said the cost of the refi might end up eating up any cash I could take out and he highly warned against trying to pull it off.  So here I am, wondering, is he right? Does the refi after you get a reappraisal (which hopefully gets the value of the property higher) end up taking too much money of my pocket? 

And, because the plan is to refi after a quick fix-up do you go with a shorter term mortgage (i.e. 5 year arm) to keep things even lower cost? I always opt to lock in the longest terms I can.

Thanks,
Lloyd