Cash out refinance on my entire portfolio

[Patrick Howell]

Hello,

Wanted to get your everyone's feedback on this scenario. I'm hoping to leverage some existing equity in my REI portfolio to pay off some student loans. I currently own 5 residential rental properties (with 5 different mortgages) that all have seasoned titles. Total Mortgage balance is 128,416 and the properties are valued at 165,000 all together. Before I approach my broker, I wanted to see what the typical commerical LTV cash-out refi loan requirements are....

Would it be reasonable to request 90% on the entire portfolio? i.e. 90% on 165k=148,500-balance owed (128,416)=approx 20k. Any other thoughts on how to approach this would be appreciated.

[Account Closed]

Just curios here, but are you going to come out ahead by doing this? Student loan interest rates are typically low, the interest paid is an "above the line" tax deduction (can take even without itemizing), after refi costs, appraisals, etc...

With the Passive Activity Loss limitations, you may not even reap any additional tax benefits for paying additional interest on the new, larger refi'd mortgages in your rental business.

Just a thought. I'd run the numbers before I cashed out most of my equity.