(Talk to a CPA if a 1031 exchange / QOF is available to you).If you purchase another property you can also expect to pay around 5% in fees/costs from loan processing fees, title work costs, etc.Real Estate is a a long-term play, do you think the new property that you will purchase will make up for the sunk costs of selling/buying a new property.Best of luck!

So it was never a money play.. 

Too many people rush into it and a condo or townhome is a safe way to enjoy a property, play it carefully, but also set yourself up with a rentable unit when you are done.

Playing with the numbers in the calculators. 

I think it comes down to you the investor needing to raise your financial IQ to be able to advise your tax professional on what to do so they can implement the strategy instead of them strong arming you into a conservative and poor tax play.

@Frank Jiang agree 100% that while they pitched this as market making and it could have been more of a pure play like you described.

I refi at a more conservative LTV than most but that is my way of playing in RE. 

Trust me, I’m looking ahead to play the long game.

Targeting newer brokers who haven't built up their buyers list yet is a good play too. 

A gamble, given it was a guess the house would appraise for what we expected.When we originally discussed this with our agent and mentor, these are the numbers we presented.