Should I wait to refinance to pull cash out or lower rate now?

[Tim Ward]

I bought my first rental back in May 2018 and I am generally pretty happy about how it is tracking and matching to my analysis.

I really want to get onto buying my second and it is taking me longer than I hoped to get a second deposit together.

the property was $139k at purchase with 20% down and a 5.5% mortgage rate.

recent quick online valuation puts the property at $158k

was hoping that i would be able to do cash out refinance an pull some equity out to go towards next property deposit. seems that most banks need 75% loan to value on refinance (i had assumed 80%). therefore after closing costs seems i wont be able to pull much cash out. so im not sure that it is really worth it.

on the other hand it seems that i could just refinance my current loan and get a much better rate - 4% or lower?

my question is should i hold out for another ~6 months in hope that the property appreciates and i build more equity so that i can do the cash out refi then? or am i better off to simply refinance my current loan at a lower rate, miss out on the cash out and take the extra cash flow from the repayment savings?