Looking for advice on refinancing our condo in Long Beach

[Joshua Williams]

Hi, my name is Joshua. I do pretty well on eBay and if anyone has questions related to that area I'd be glad to help. I'd also be grateful if I could get some advice on a situation I'm currently in regarding refinancing. Thanks in advance!

Our condo was purchased a few years ago and the original price was 325k @ 3.9% interest. Our loan was a conventional loan that allowed us to put 5% down and our PMI was rolled into the loan. Currently we owe 300k on the original loan and our estimated value is now 430k. We can refinance @ 3.5% understanding that will save us money over time but we're interested to know what some of you would do in our situation. Our monthly mortgage looks like it might be lower by about $175.

Would we be missing an opportunity to take cash out now for investing in a another property in the near future? I'm assuming we'd be in the market for another place next year, is it common to sit on cash from a refinance for up to 6 months and beyond?

If we didn't take out any money now, would a HELOC when we're ready be just as effective as taking cash out now with refinancing?

Another option we've considered is paying off 29k in student loan debt by rolling it into the new loan. We're already aggressively paying it off and we'd continue to do so by paying that much more on the mortgage every month until that portion is paid off.

Anybody willing to chime in with advice or just what they would do in our situation would be appreciated.

Thanks