I actually want to be more leveraged going into this??

[Tom Shallcross]

Let me start by stating I find truths in both the Dave Ramsey camp, and the pull out as much as you can via leverage camp.  I'm naturally conservative, but also have analyzed and utilized the power of responsible leverage to scale quickly. 

Going through my portfolio to prep for the months ahead, I came to a surprising conclusion (and would love to hear your thoughts) that I actually wish I was I was more leveraged on a number of my properties.  Before this gets interpreted as terrible advise, the big caveat here is I have a white collar W2 job and reserves to cover a storm.  My portfolio has never been about "Get to $xx/month cashflow to cover personal expenses" - it's a long-term investment, cashflow being one piece of the overall investment.  So yes I've scaled aggressively with leverage, but I have the funds to ride out the storm and avoid a fire sale.

What I'm finding is in my more conservative properties - where I originally took something like 60% LTV after the rehab, and have paid down for 2yrs and also had market appreciation parlayed with forced appreciation - I have equity that I'd currently love to exchange for cash in-hand.

For example, a property worth 150-160k and I owe 75k, I'd much rather have a loan at like 110k on this and have that additional 35k in cash to create opportunity.  I have multiple examples of this scenario and it adds up. 

Because most of my properties are smaller (biggest property is a 6 units, most are 1-4), it's expensive to refi each one of these to pull out 30k here, 50k there, 25k on this one....etc and the reality is that private-type lenders for these SFH loans in an LLC name will dry up for the upcoming months even if I wanted to go this route. I'm already getting notices from Chicago HMLs cutting back significantly, thus making cash even more crucial to make future moves.

This had lead me to play Monday morning quarterback and say, "man I wish I would've just taken max cashout on each one of my properties and have that additional cash on hand."  I would obviously would have a higher monthly obligation, but it seems like a more than fair payoff to have a larger War chest of cash.  Saying that out loud sounds kinda crazy though. 

For those who were investing in 2008 (I was not), am I crazy to have this point of view?  If so, I'm open to hearing it.  I'm not trying to make a point, just relaying my observations because it's contrary to what I would have believed before going through this analysis exercise.