Accidental investor trying to become intentional -- next steps?

[Barry Wong]

I live in Vancouver, BC but own a house in Kent, WA (used to be the family home). It is currently rented but has not been a money maker due to significant capital, repair, and maintenance costs (painting, furnace, roof, water heater, carpets, and some repairs after a destructive tenant).

I have not analyzed the property as a rental, but our PITI is just shy of $1700 and our monthly rent is $2300. Property management is $160 (just started -- had been managed by a friend previously). We're paying $80 for yard upkeep; renter is paying garbage, gas/electric, sewer. We have roughly $250k in equity.

I'm wondering about what a good next move is. Is it better to:

- Do a cash out refi and try to get another property?

- Do a 1031 exchange for a different property (possibly multi-family rental?), and if so, should it be somewhere in the South Puget Sound or somewhere else entirely?

- Leave things as-is for now?

- Other possibilities I should consider?

Other considerations: I've not followed the market closely as we were living thousands of miles away for a while, but best guess is that we are closer to the top of the market than the bottom. Since I live hours away in another country and work at a job that isn't compatible with a super active role in the rental, I'm looking for something that requires less active management on my part but can put our equity to work in a productive way. We do have another property (in the SF Bay Area), but my wife would not be keen on selling that one, so I'm unlikely to do much with it right now. But it could be a source of additional funding, if that became necessary.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Taylor L.]

How much more could you sell the property for if you put in $30-40k of reno?

I would not cash out refi because that is going to raise your note payment, and the cash flow is already thin. I would sell and 1031 into more units in a less hot/more stable market. Turnkeys or syndications might work well for you, since hands-on doesn't seem tenable.

I agree that the area is probably closer to the top than the bottom. I would cash in on that and seek more cash flow elsewhere