refinance cash out and rate term

[Lacey Mitchell]

My husband has a duplex that he bought years before we were married and I am trying to figure out our best options for this rental. He bought it in 2007 for 220,000 and his mortgage is 1,600 a month. He rents one side for 800 and the other for 1,000. He also pays the water bill which is about 115 a month, and he cuts the grass. I am uncomfortable with this because we seem to be breaking even or going in the hole with this property. If anything breaks the funds are coming from our savings, not a set aside savings from an investment. I have had someone look into refinancing it but they want to separate the duplex because people in our area have been selling them separately and they have no comps to figure out the value. I have been told that they will likely appraise for 150,000 a piece separated. I am interested in getting another rental property that is a better investment in addition to the duplex but I have to figure out the refinance first because I would like to borrow some of the equity from it to get started. Currently he is at 6.5% and the payment is 1,600. I am looking at the idea of doing a cash out refinance for one side of the duplex and the break down is for 30 years (resets our total mortgage time) 5.250% interest with a loan amount of $116,250 and with all costs included the mortgage for that side would be $766 and we would get 24,000 cash. The other side would be a rate term  refi with 4.99% interest rate and 30 years as well, loan amount of 91,600 and all costs included the mortgage would be $616, this means a total of 207,850 and his original loan amount 12 years ago was 220,000. I am just overwhelmed with the numbers and trying to make sense of what is the best option. We could also cash out on both or just rate term refi both side. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!