Sell or refinance and rent condo?

[Justin Lantin]

Hello everyone, I'm new to Bigger Pockets and am looking for some expert advice on my situation.

I currently have a rental condo unit that just turned vacant. My tenants broke the lease early due to loss of income. The rental unit was cash flowing positively for the first but last year property taxes went up and pushed me into negative cash flow.

I tried refinancing earlier in the year to bring down the monthly payment but the lender gave me a higher rate due to the fact that it is considered an investment property vs primary residence.

I'm thinking of selling It due to the fact that rental prices have dropped in my condo building and if I were to compete at that price point I would be forced to operate at a lower negative income and estimate loss of 3k/yr. If I sell I will have a decent amount of equity to purchase another property.

I want to take the equity from the condo and put that as a downpayment for a house and turn that into a rental property. Should I sell the unit or keep the unit and try to do a cash out refinance to bring the payment down while putting the equity into a new house. I ran the numbers and if I refinance I may not get into a positive cashflow situation. 

Any help would be appreciated.