Should I cash out refinance or keep the cash flow?

[Jack B.]

Sitting on 750K cash (well in the bank). 850K in equity there abouts with the hand full of rentals I own here. I moved back into one of my rentals almost 2 years ago and am considering taking out 150K equity before moving and renting back out and eventually 1031 exchanging.

I might do the same with another rental I may move back into (both of these were originally primary residences). That would give me another 150K, so if I do this with both of these I'll get another 300K in cash for a total of just over 1 mil in cash ready for investing opportunities in another crash.

OR...

I can keep the cash flow of the houses...the one I'm living in now will cash flow 1K a MONTH after all expenses and reserve funds set aside for cap ex, vacancy, etc.

The other one is about $500 a month currently. Both of them have enough cash flow that they show a profit on my taxes. If I cash out refinance while living in them, I'll tap that equity and it will show a loss on my taxes not this upcoming year but year after that.

So if I don't tap these two houses with cash out refinances, I'll get $1,500 cash flow from just these two, and another $1,000 from another two rentals combined for a total of about $2,500 a month cash flow. Or I can cash out refinance and get about $1,250 to $1,500 a month cash flow from all of them combined after the refinance and have another 300K in cash for opportunities.