Refinance or sell to prepare for downturn

[Gillian Gong]

Hey everyone,

I'm struggling with if I should sell my current primary residence or refinance it.

Our place is a 3 year new construction townhouse on a main street. it's 2 bed 2 bath plus an office with two car garage. We live in an area of good school district(Newton MA). Newton in general is pretty isolated from economy crash. But because our place is a bit high end. I'm worried it may get hit pretty hard.

I'm thinking about the following options:

1. Sell. We can sell above 800k if we sell now. We only have about 100k mortgage left so we will have a good amount of cash to position us in the upcoming downturn.

2. Refinance. We can get 3.5% 30 year fixed cash out at least 300k.

For the cash taken out, I'm planning to buy rental properties in Kansas City & Cincinnati.

Any suggestions are welcoming!

Thanks,

Gillian

[David Barnett]

My guess is that your family is in the high income earning area. What about going back to paying the minimum mortgage payment per month and stacking extra cash for the down turn? This might be another option instead of the two options listed above. If you are only considering the two options above, I wouldn't sell the property unless the property no longer fits your needs. I would instead refinance out/open up a HELOC to use as seed money to invest in the markets you are looking at.