Thanks for sharing your thoughts.Alex, I've been in equities in some form or another since the Reagan recession years. 

Also, with the renovation not much equity is being created, as you are spending 30k to generate an additional net 10k to 20k in equity.

@Fernando Enrile building an ADU on a rental for about $170K and will $2,350 a month in rent and a significant upside in equity too.

I know I have about 30k in equity.

Single family mortgage of 2200/month (yes this crushed my cash flow and ability to leverage a lot of the equity in 2 family and am fully aware and heartbroken) and about 60k in 401k/IRA's/brokerage and only 30k in equity at the new house after some improvements.With interest rates recently climbing I've become more hesitant to refi on the two family, but see it as our only option short term to move my objectives forward.1) Is a Cash-out mortgage/refi my only option?

30k in equity and 800/mo in rent Lessons learned?

Homes here are cheap but unless you can get them far below market value, you essentially will never get an increase in equity even after repairs. 2.

We have gained over 100k in equity mostly due to appreciation in the last 2-3 years. 

The cash is invested in equities, bonds, commodities, etc. by the trustee.   

The townhome is rented by family and basically they cover enough to make the mortgage but in not making profit from it.I have about 80-100k in equity in each property and am debating on whether to do a basic refinance considering how low the rates are right now OR Cashout refinance, Heloc, Heil, OR just leave it be and wait til my family decides to move (potentially 1-5 years)I have more family here that would be able to do the same thing as my family in RI and basically pay the mortgage but I wouldn't be making profit, simply owning another property and building equity long term.