Sell to Trade Up or Refi Till You Die??

[Account Closed]

Hello all, I am at a decision point and would appreciate outside perspective.  

I have a property that has gained a good bit of equity which can be used for another purchase.  In the past I have refinanced properties to tap equity as opposed to selling the property to purchase larger properties.  

There are a lot of smart and successful investors who advise selling a number of smaller properties and consolidating to larger properties for economies of scale, which makes sense.  

My preferred method has been to refinance properties that I own because I know they are well maintained with solid tenants and streamlines systems in place.   While you would extract more equity through a sale the costs are a lot higher with commission, closing costs, and 1031 exchange fees.  Another benefit to refinancing the property, and the flip side to the economy of scale, is diversification by owing multiple properties and not consolidating a portfolio into 1 or 2 large buildings.

What has been your experience either trading up or refinancing and what have you learned?

Thanks.

[Charlie Fitzgerald]

Selling to free up capital to buy more/bigger properties may be a taxable event whereas refinancing to extract equity to buy more/bigger properties never is. I also like having my holdings spread across different property types, so I am not a believer in selling rabbits (SFR) to buy elephants (MF). Lastly, for the very good reasons you mention, I like SFR properties. So, if it were me, I would refinance to get my cash and roll that into additional properties of whatever type and availability met my fundamentals.