After all, at the end of the day, the investor has to make the best informed decision he or she can with the information that he or she has gathered.

There are court decisions that support this where the taxpayer refinanced, pulled cash out, and then immediately sold and complete a 1031 exchange.

but that's a decision for you to make.

I own a 15 unit apartment building. What happened was our market soared over the last couple of years. Now the apartment is worth double what I paid for it. So I have a ton of dead equity sitting in that building.

My...

I have poor credit scores and I don't have any proof of income.

I actually made a decision about 7 years ago to work with Real Estate Investors because I was running into a lot of investors at my club meetings who have had bad experiences or working with CPA's that are not RE savvy.I have also found that "RE EXPERTISE" is more important than "PROXIMITY"

Other than that, I've read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Down to Earth Landlording by Don Beck, and Buy Low, Rent Smart, Sell High by Scott Frank and Andy Heller.

It's always good to be fully informed and then make a decision from there.

That said, as I write this I have an electrician in my kitchen, moving circuits and switches mainly (it was a poor design), when he's gone I'll actually install the recessed light cans, then texture and paint.Remember, if you're paying a "tradesman" $50/hour (cheap in most parts of the country) you have to "earn" about $85 to net the $50!

But before I make any decisions I fully understand what he said above and the comments he left are more like, rewards soon after money is spent.