Cash out-on rentals

[Maria Vogel]

Hello,

I need ideas on the best thing to do so I can purchase another rental and utilize my cash/equity wisely. 

Rental A: repo--great deal needed a lot of work. Remodeled it. I had a lot of equity so I took out a HELOC on this house for some cash.

I used the HELOC from rental A for a down payment and remodel for rental B.

Minor remodel for house B ($5k supplies did the work ourselves) and 20% downpayment. Now it would appraise/sell for about 50k more than the mortgage. I haven't owned it for a year yet. I am trying to figure out the best option for utilizing this equity and getting back the cash from my downpayment. 

I currently have about $40k from the sale of another rental and I would like to buy something else but I don't want the cash tied up again and unable to buy anything further. 

My lender tells me a cash out refinance have bad terms.  Ideas? What do the majority of you do in this situation? Do you leave your equity and downpayment in the house or generally try to re-invest it? 

Thank you for your help! This is such a wonderful site!