Appreciation Vs. Cashflow?

[Carter Thomas]

Hello BP,

I am debating what I should do to maximize my real estate investments and need some help. Here is the situation:

My girlfriend and I currently own 2 single family rentals in Vancouver WA. The 1st house cash flows $700/mo and has $150k in equity. The 2nd house cash flows $250/mo and has $100k in equity. We both separately lived in them for 2 out of the last 5 years so we could potentially sell them w/o paying cap gains and walk away with around $250k.

Here are the options I am considering:

A. Keep them and enjoy the $950/mo cash flow and let them appreciate in the awesome market of Portland/Vancouver.

B. Sell them, take our $250k and use it as 20% down on $1.25M worth of SFH, Duplexes and triplexes in a cash flow market in the Midwest or South.

C. Refinance the 1st house and use another $60-70k to buy another house in my back yard?

D. Find a partner to join with and buy a bigger apartment building.

I would love and appreciate any input!

Thanks,

Carter