My understanding is that the interest can be deducted on taxes, if the cash out proceeds are used for improvements that increase the subject property value, however, if that is not the case, then the deduction can only be claimed on the original balance of the original mortgage used to acquire the property that is being refinanced.

@Zachary Inman Atomic Habits is a great book in general for improving how you tackle change in life.

One area that I think I need to improve upon is estimating the monthly rent for a potential property.

Here is generally how the strategy plays out: when a sponsor acquires a property, performs a cost segregation study, and takes the bonus election, the portion of the property's value that is allocated to land improvements gets depreciated 100% in the same calendar year the property was purchased.

Here is a YouTube video where Rob explains what I think you're looking for.

It helps that I've continued to improve my credit score to help get those lower rates which I believe should be sitting around 740-750 now.I'll update this with hard numbers after the refi is complete!

But everything must be arms length, IRA owned can't do any work and must use unrelated third party for any improvements/repairs.  

By doing this you'd probably improve your cash flow, decrease your taxes and benefit even more from appreciation.  

If you think that the area will bring in people upgrading the buildings and improving the area a lower cashflow deal can be worth it the paydown on the property and appreciation are your true wealth generators!

So I was watching YouTube and a "guru" mentioned you can take a loan out on your indexes/stocks as it is a secured loan at a fraction of what you would get on a regular loan (1.5% instead of the 3-4% on a regular conventional loan) and that you can borrow around 40-60% of your portfolio amount.I looked online for info even close to this but couldn't find it, I have a sizeable 401k so wanted to look into this - any insight greatly appreciated