Welcome and good luck on your new ventures!!!

Good luck in all your future REI ventures.

I accidentally ventured into REI when we bought a new home in North Cal / Bay Area,  and rented out the previous one.

If you did refinance and your future lender required 75% LTV (worst case scenario) on your property that is worth $435K then you could 1) keep  your current home, 2) collect $61K in cash to pursue other investing/real estate ventures, and 3) your monthly payment on your new loan of $326K even in today's higher 4.6% rates for 30 year, would be @ $1,673/mo. without any PMI ------ This is still less then your current payment. 

We have not even found our first deal yet and are truly in the infancy stages of our venture.

@Chris Seveney I appreciate the info, where do you think I should start with this venture?

I have a 10 year balloon and I'd venture to guess that's what most people dislike most because you're forced to either refinance or pay the sum. 

Although there may be some Americans looking for a Tuscan estate but I would venture to guess not many or on BP..

Good luck on your venture and Maybe we can ask each other question which will only serve to grow our knowledge.

Cut down on the amount of taxes you're paying by maxing out your accounts, and you should still have plenty left over for other ventures.