Trying to BRRR my home

[Christopher Huber]

Hello, I purchased my home in 2021 for $38,000 and put about $40,000 I to renovating it. It is now worth around $165,000. I have a loan through a private lender for $70,000 at 7% over 15 years. I would like to get my private lender paid back sooner than later but was not able to get my house refinanced before interest rates shot up. My bank offers a program where they will give me 80% LTV at 4.5% variable rate interest. The interesting thing is that the 4.5% is locked in for 10 years.

I've always been told to avoid variable rates but if it's essentially a fixed rate for the first 10 years, is it a bad idea to go ahead and refinance with them and just expect to refinance again before the 10 years are up? Also, it's my personal home and I expect I'll probably sell it within 10 years and collect tax free gains (although anything can happen). I haven't decided yet if it's better to sell or refinance and hold but the point is that I have multiple exit strategies for this loan.

If it was fixed rate it would be a no brainer but I'm trying to figure out why I shouldn't get the variable rate loan and just plan to exit that loan before the 10 years is over.

I'm about to start my second year of investing full time and trying to learn as much as I can. Thank you for any advice or feedback you can give me!