BRRRR Method; Cash Out Refi & Home Equity?

[Jalen Leichman]

Hi Everyone,

Firstly, I want to state that I'm on the BRRRR method (long term) path of investing. I took out an FHA loan about six months ago to buy my first property. It's a duplex, I live in one unit and rent out the other unit... house hacking. I've been renovating my unit while collecting rent from the tenant in the other unit. I was told that my current loan would have to season for 6 months before I could do a Cash-Out Refi... well it's about that time and I'm VERY eager to get my next property. However, I'm probably another month or two away from finishing renovation in my unit... and I haven't even touched the other unit yet because there are tenants in it. I want to make sure I've put in enough equity in the place to yield a good result from the cash-out refinance (assuming equity plays a important part in the process) . My question(s) is... is it okay to start the refinance process now or would it be better if I waited until I've gotten chance to complete renovations to One or BOTH units?