Help understanding leveraging debt

[Andy Thoman]

So I don't really understand the whole Refi and HELOC situation... I have a few questions.

What are interest rates usually like compared to traditional residential mortgages?

What is the difference between refi and heloc and other options?

Are there taxes on this?

Let me use an example:

Say I own a house that is worth 100k(It was worth 80k before I fixed it), I owe 50k on it. Right now, my understanding is that I have 30k equity. But if I refinance it and got it appraised for 100k, I'd have 50k equity and the bank would give me 20k? Is that how it would work? Would I get taxed on that 20k?

If I don't think I could appraise it for higher so I just did a HELOC instead of appraising it? Then I could go back to 20% down? So I could go down to 16k equity and have the bank pay me 14k? Do I get taxed on that 14k?

In addition to these scenarios, are there costs do to these deals? Closing costs/appraisal costs, etc.?

Lets take scenario 2 as my situation. Would it be worth it for me to pull 14k out to invest in a rental? Is this dangerous even if I keep 20% in my property? what are the pros and cons?