Will refinancing a quitclaimed property be considered a sale?

[Ev Conrad]

Hello all,

I have some questions about the best way to approach a refinance of a rental unit that my wife and I own.  It was originally quitclaimed to her, the loan is in her parent's name.  The loan is almost paid, we are considering refinancing it to take out some equity to invest in other projects.  Will this be considered a sale, with taxable consequences?  does it make a difference whether we pay the existing loan off first, before we refinance?  Thanks in advance!

EDIT: The quitclaim is pretty old, > 20 years.  We have rented this property for about this long, we have claimed interest paid on our taxes even though the 1098s come in her parents name, we have denoted this on our taxes for as long without problems.