Getting to my second rental property

[Kyle Contente]

Hello all,

Would love to hear thoughts on my situation and how I can move forward from here on my real estate investment journey.  My situation is as follows:

I purchased a 3 family rental property for approximately 155k, 5 years ago.  I was using this as an owner occupied residence at first and moved out around 3 years ago.  I now have all three units rented.  The rates I am receiving are decent and return approximately double the mortgage cost (taxes and insurance included).  It’s a good situation and my tenants are paying the place off for me.  Over the past few years the housing market has appreciated significantly.  This house is now worth approximately $235k and my mortgage balance is around $135k.  I could make a nice profit on this place (after fees and taxes I would walk away with around 60k).  I am wondering how I should proceed with the situation.  I attempted to go the 1031 exchange route to delay taxes but according to the mortgage broker my d to I is too high to qualify for another mortgage. I forgot to mention I have bought a single family property with my wife in the interim (approx 250k).  Is there a way to leverage my equity in a way that I am not thinking of or should I just sit back and be happy collecting my rental income from this property?  Appreciate it.

-Kyle