Cash out refi dilemma or sell Apple stock

[Jeff Fountain]

I'm looking at my fourth purchase/investment property, a small single family home located on St. Simons Island, GA, I have a rental townhome in Alexandria, VA owing only 93K. The Alexandria townhomes, like mine, currently are selling for 400-410K. I have excellent credit, have three townhomes fully rented long term. Trying to decide if I should sell enough Apple stock for 15-20% down on the new property or do a cash-out refi on the Alexandria property. Thoughts?

[Thomas S.]

If you have dead equity it is likely eating all of your cash flow. Based on the opportunity value of cash it is costing you $2 for every $1 it generates. You are losing money not making money. Pull your equity and invest it by spreading it around as minimum DP on as many income properties as possible. You need to find properties that will produce positive cash flow without having to buy it with your own cash. You need to purchase properties that are capable of producing positive cash flow with a hypothetical 100% financing. If these properties are not available you would be better off parking your cash in REITs or some other form of income funds producing higher returns. Dead equity is only saving the cost of a mortgage at 5% and is not a worthwhile investment.