That could be a good solution if the properties are good and rents are good to not lose the cash flow.

Purchase price: $128,900 Cash invested: $50,000 Sale price: $310,000 Contributors: Peter Vekselman Partner Driven, in collaboration with Ron Rowan, successfully completed a fix-and-flip on Wren Ct, Griffith, IN 46319.

They had to do some work outside the scope of an initial contracted amount of $19k.

I paid in cash for all of this.

It's a market where you can still get cash flow and it's also putting up significant appreciation.

I'm looking into investing in areas that would provide positive cash flow and/or appreciation. 

I have a fair amount of time to dedicate to real estate.

And this works great, when it works, but as soon as the place goes vacant, or rents drop, or a major repair is needed, you still need to pay your debts, so the risks to your cash flow are increased.

john, The Refi is interesting,  cash out refis are harder then HELOCs. 

I was fortunate to buy it when prices were much much lower and got a great deal on it so we don’t have a mortgage on this building but if we did the cash flow would help with that as opposed to taking a distribution at the end of the year.