Should I subdivide and/or refinance?

[Josh Layhue]

I'm pretty new to the real estate investing game. Here's my current situation:

I own 5 units on the same lot that are in the form of 1 triplex and 1 duplex. I paid $47,000 for the units and have put about $15,000 dollars worth of repairs into them with another $5,000 needed. They are currently appraised at $92,000. The rent that I am/will be able to get is about $500/unit/month for a total of $2,500/month (only 2 are currenlty rented). I owe approximately $30,000 on the loan because I put about $15,000 down. I have 2 questions:

(1) The triplex and duplex are on adjacent lots. Should I look into subdiving them so that they are on their own lots? The idea would be that I could sell the duplex (the property next door to the duplex sold for $45,000 about a month ago and it is a small one bedroom house) to get some cash to re-invest if I find a good deal and need cash while allowing me to still keep the triplex for cashflow.

(2) Should I refinance to get my cash back? I'm not sure exactly how refinancing works so if anyone has the time, maybe they can start there. If I refinance the property for $75,000 does that mean that I would have cash-in-hand of $75,000 minus current mortgage balance minus already invested cash (down payment and repair costs)? And then I assume that I would have a mortgage payment based on a loan of $75,000 vs. my current payment based on a $32,000 loan. Maybe I'm way off base... please let me know. Again the idea of refinancing would be to get my cash back.

Any and all information is greatly appreciated!