What to do with my rental value appreciated growth?

[Damon Wong]

I'm writing this today, because I'm torn between a few options for what to do with my home (rental) appreciation (equity)?  I have a few homes, but will use one of them as a specific example for purpose of this discussion.  I bought a property in Las Vegas a few years ago, and have been renting it out with a decent cash flow:  $300/month.  I just checked my homes value, and it has appreciated a good amount:  +$50,000.  I originally financed my the home conventionally (20% down, 30yr fixed).  I am weighing a few options, and would like to get any opinions and considerations for choosing one....and if there are other suggestions, I'd be open to them too!

Options:

1.  Cash out Refinance:  If I cash out refinance, my new mortgage+ins+tax payment increases about +$300/month and therefore will not be cash flow positive (after factoring repairs, mx, capex, etc).  But I would be able to use that cash-out (~$50K) for a new down payment on another similar rental that will cash flow about $300/month (so I'd consider a $150/month/rental net cash flow per se; but would have 2 properties). 

2.  Sell & upgrade:  By selling, I could possible take that $50K gain and 1031 exchange into a bigger/multi-unit home that could potentially get me an increased cash flow/month. I haven't found such a property yet (haven't looked for one), so this would be theoretical; and maybe my cash on cash return is lower, but my goal of increasing passive cash flow takes a positive step forward.

3. HELOC: I could establish a HELOC for the $50K (or more) and utilize this as a bridge to securing longer-term debt on the new rental property, or any other project. This would be similar to my fourth option, but can begin thinking of creative ways to use this equity on credit line basis. I don't have a current project in mind yet.

4.  Do nothing:  My original strategy was to never sell a property, and to eventually get them all paid down to where I can eliminate my debt service on them (and thus increase my cash flow) toward retirement.  So, this option is in line with that aspect.  Plus, not knowing how the market & economy can fluctuate in the future, it may be nice to have some of that padded equity to lean on if needed.

My overall goal is to continue growing my current (and future potential) cash flow ($$), not necessarily maximize ROI or cash-on-cash return. I don't necessarily need this equity to buy my next property; I'm currently postured to continue using other people's money and other streams of income to finance future deals. But with this good bit of appreciation I have (on this property and a maybe a few others), I'm interested if there is a smart way to leverage it in line with my growth strategy.

Thanks for reading, and hope to glean some considerations to factor.  Thanks.

Cheers,

Damon