Recast (principal paydown) vs. Investing in another property

[Matthew McNeil]

Honored to be a part of the BP family, and I’ve learned so much!

I own 3 SFH properties. I have enough money to do a $50K Recast on one of my properties with the highest principal owed. Recast meaning paying a lump sum toward the principal which results in re-amortizing the loan (note; this is not a REFI). Lender charges a flat $500 fee. I actually did a Recast on another property last year that shaved $250 off my monthly payment, which added to my cashflow.

Rearview mirror hindsight is a great mentor, and although I don’t regret doing it I realized sometime later that the drawback of recasting is I ended up trading fluidity for equity.  

My question is simple; invest the $50K in a Recast on an existing property, or invest the $50K in another property?  Would appreciate numbers to support varying perspective.

Thanks!