What would you do if you had $150+k in equity?

[Robert L.]

I am starting off the new year and really want to get build my wealth in a better way.

I've got several properties (including my own house) paid off free and clear for over a decade. I'm 45 years old.  I chatted with a friend who said I should refinance, take the money and use it to buy more properties or even re-invest in other channels.

From rental properties alone, probably about $150k in equity. That's not even including a HELOC which I can get from my own residence which could be another few hundred thous.

I'm not a big buy and hold guy, although I do have about 3 properties, but I am not the guy who wants to have 10 properties and deal with the headaches.  Yes, I can hire a property management company but I've had bad experiences with them and the cash flow really got eaten up by all of their fees and rehab overspending.  I'm not a handyman type of person to do it myself either.

What would you do if you could leverage the current properties and use the money to make even more money?  Ideas: 

* re-invest in higher yielding avenues (like which index funds, etc),
* be a private lender to other investors and charge a high interest rate (obviously I'll need to perform my due diligence when borrowing this money),
* buy more properties with low maintenance and try a better prop mgmt company
* try getting into commercial properties (I'm new to this)
* I've heard about buying discounted notes???
* buy a house cheap, take title for 90 day seasoning, then retail for a higher price profit? (I haven't really done this before b/c I didn't like dealing with contractors and fix-ups too much)

Anyway, what would you suggest so that I can grow and build wealth even faster without a lot of headaches. I understand if you are not a financial advisor and I know it's just your opinion but I'd like to get your thoughts.  I plan to also consult a financial planner as well but since I've been doing real estate investing for over 10 years, I have a particular inclination to using real estate to build wealth.

Thank you for your time!

God Bless

Rob