refinance or sell condo with a lot of equity

[Leo M Christensen]

Hi everyone.

I would love to hear your opinion on the following case:

I have a condo, that i bought in '09 and the market has appreciated a lot since then, plus I've renovated it quite a bit. It's a very popular area and it rents out very easily. However, it has fairly high HOA fees so the cashflow after all expenses is about 440$ pr. month, which is not bad, but I'm currently paying interest-only on the mortgage. The interest-only option runs out in about 2 years.

My dilemma is that I have, do to the appreciation, a good deal of equity in the condo (around 175.000$ after tax) which I would love to reinvest, but I'm have a hard time getting a refinance do to debt to income ratio. 

So should I: 

- sell and take my short term profit and re-invest in an area that is not so hot, but i might get more units?

- hold and keep trying to refinance, thus betting on the market to hold the level it's at now?

- Do nothing and keep the cashflow as is, and the try to find another mortgage company when my interest-only period ends?

- or a fourth option, not mentioned above?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts

Kind regards 

Leo