How do I buy my next property?

[John Santos]

I have a unique situation of home equity I have built and am not sure how to make best use of the same to buy more properties. Here is the situation:

I own following 3 properties:
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1) My current residence - Current equity = 110K (Current market price - loan principal leftover).

2) My rental number 1 - Current equity = 70K (current net rental cash income = $4k per year .

3) My rental number 2 -Current equity = 72K (current net rental cash income = $4.5k per year .

Hence my total home equity = 252K

I also have $40K cash available that I can use for my next purchase. Per fannie Mae guideline I found out that I can qualify to purchase one more home as a rental based on my my current income/expense ratio.

How do I best make use of my equity for my next purchase? Current interest loan I have on each of the properties is lowest currently available in the market, hence I suspect refinance may not be a good option. (feel free to advise me any options here).

Maybe I should consolidate all 3 current loans into one?
Any suggestions here?
Thanking in advance for all the valuable guidance.