http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-h...LA area home prices continue to rise (heck, so does inflation!)

@Colleen F - I agree with you on the spending issue but as you say it's another topic.Septic in our town is a nightmare as there is a long and painful approval process (with engineering required) by the Health Dept for all repairs / replacements.

I use Wi-Fi thermostats to save on electricity between guests and have a couple exterior cameras to keep an eye on the place.

what if values go up and you want to cash out re-fi one property? 

Since I want to hold as a rental what's the best way to re-fi this to pull my cash out to buy another deal?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-costa-hawkin...It will likely ruin the economy in long run but they don't care the politicians want votes.This Tenants Together group is sponsored nationally -National Housing Law Project- They are pushing for rent controls all over the country even though most economists know it's bad for local communities.http://www.tenantstogether.org/campaigns/rent-cont...

I understand my interest rate might be higher if I re-fi this home, but need that VA loan to get a jumbo loan in San Diego.

Bringing her FI expertise to the Money Podcast has been great addition. 

I have 6 houses in Fredericksburg, TX that we built from the ground up using a construction loan, that just recently rolled over into a 25 year at 4.5% principal and interest until the maturity date of April, 2027 where it will be a balloon payment.Due to the rising interest rates, I wanted to see when is the soonest I could re-fi out of the current loan with a cash option to lock in a 25-30 year rate and pull out some cash that was used for the build.

There is some pretty big upside potential on them given that FHA appears to be in the process of changing its rules to be more accommodating of them: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/20/business/la-fi-harney-20120520.