Plan is to partner with a few folks for the downpayment/liquidity requirement (planning on a hard money loan).All properties in the DC market, so rents should not soften too much due to federal government as main employer (one hopes), but I still want to stay on the conservative side given the unknown economic impacts of COVID-19.

@Matt Byrne do you have solid reserves, i.e. savings?  

After a few years of ownership the rents have caught up on the Denver properties and they did begin to be cash flow positive.Assuming you have a cash reserve I would invest the 40k somewhere else and not refi the condo.

Invest in yourself now and have a gameplan ready to know what you want to invest in, how to do it, have financing options ready (talk to lenders, banks, etc. right now), and keep piling up your cash reserves. 

The St Louis Federal Reserve is a good source of such information.

And what if mortgage underwriting guidelines tighten up (they already have, to some degree) and call for additional reserves and a higher credit score?

To invest with no money down, you still need reserves and backup options.

I’m under 3 years into real estate and have 40 doors... 75% leveraged, 25% free and clear and we net over $500 per door after principal, interest, taxes, insurance and repair reserves.  

@Shawn Johnson thank you, I was looking at Houston as well as Huntsville Alabama, but just casually looking I have to save up for about another 6-8 months to make sure I have enough reserves for anything that goes wrong!

@Jonathan SantiagoThe tax difference between capital gain vs ordinary income is HUGE.Capital gain - Preferential tax rates if long term at federal level, subject to regular tax at state levelOrdinary income - taxed at marginal tax rates at federal level + Self employment taxes + state taxesIntent is what differentiates between a real estate sold being subject to capital gain treatment vs ordinary income.