Is it smart to refinance right now?

[Hunter Woolsey]

I have a refinance question, My first rental that I bought is a 3/2 that I currently owe just under $30,000 on. I have owned it 5 years, and rent is $900/month. I am in the same boat as most people as the down payments are getting harder to come by as I grow. I was considering refinancing, the house is worth about $80-90k so I could potentially pull $38k out to use on future purchases. But this house does well for me with the low mortgage payment of $275. Is it smart to go back to a 15 year note and add $38k to the mortgage in turn cutting down on my margins? Thank yall for the advice!

[Evelyn Roper]

We did this with one of our properties.  I was surprised when we were given a much lower interest rate than we had been paying.  We refinanced from a 30 year (5 years already paid) for a new 30 year note. The monthly payment only went up about $50 a month (but was still less than we had been paying with our "extra" principle payments).  It made sense for us.  We pulled out enough to be able to purchase another property outright.  The new property needs work but it is something we can manage.   I think refinancing can be a good thing IF you refinance and use the money for another asset.  Where people have problems is when they pull out cash to fund vacations or pay of credit card debt.