I'm in the Austin/San Antonio area and would be happy to provide a free estimate for you on your cash out refinance!

I'm big on leverage and I would access the equity with a HELOC or cash-out refinance.

I'm in process of rehabbing the top floor of a duplex (this unit is 4 BR / 2 BA about 1500 SF) with plan to refinance and keep as a long term buy/hold rental.

Non owner occupied refinances are extremely expensive as Fannie and Freddie don't want them and lenders must hold them until things loosen up, so you won't get better rate deals on rentals.

If you do a rate/term refinance into a conventional loan, you do not have to stay in the property for more than 6 months before buying again.

You don't want to get in a position where the capital markets dry up and you cannot refinance. 

With this in mind you need to be prepared to refinance into a permanent/long-term loan based on appraised value. 

I purchased my first property, a two-family back in September 2020.First, my loan officer told me as of early April, Fannie Mae and such has been cutting back in adopting cash-out refinance loans from lenders by a large percentage, making refinancing second home/investment properties much harder.

I'm keen to refinance and build a 3rd smaller rental suite under the existing house as it's on a hill and there's a small workshop space with some rock retaining wall that needs to be replaced with concrete foundation anyway.

Plan is to use this for my second property and then refinance after the repairs.