Eventually they will come back up, and some of the folks that refinanced to an ARM may not be able to cover the difference, so some of the extra cash that's in the market may dry up as well.

I recently did a cash out refi on an investment property to pay off the line of credit I had used for the downpayment on said property.I have about $5k in funds left over, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with ...

Even if the buyer was happy to pay the extra cost generated by the HOA fees, explain to the appraiser how HOA reserves adds value to the home.

I've actually done the same thing with washers/dryers that I provided as a convenience to the tenant because I had extra ones.

For serenity, stroke the check and chalk up the little bit extra to shared appreciation.  

Time will tell if they are worth the extra expense.

I don't cashflow in my owner occupied duplex... but I just about break even giving me extra money that I would normally be paying in either rent or my full mortgage.

House also doesn't have operable A/C...so I don't see any extra motivation to get this done "in the near future" with sweltering AZ heat. 

She had some extra furniture in storage that we paid to use for a short time.

Frankly if you have extra money you can keep that in the bank as a safety net until you feel comfortable enough with the income from that rental to then buy a second property.Most of my clients purchase with a loan but then as they generate income the revenue is put back into the property, through either improvements or paying down the mortgage.