Advice on Refinancing & Credit Score

[Jim R.]

Hello,

I'm looking at buying my first rental property this year and I'm trying to get my personal finances in order. I own my primary residence and have an ARM that's been working out well for me in the past couple years since rates have been low. I estimate I have about 30% equity in my home based on recent comps and I earn a good income from my day job. Two things I'd like to get some advice on:

1. I plan to refinance my primary residence at some point, but I haven't been motivated to do it because my payments have been so low. Is there any reason to do it before I attempt to get financing for an investment property?

2. I have good payment history (just one late payment about three years ago), but my credit score is still just under 700 - not too bad, but probably not where I need it to be. I think it might be due to using too high a percentage of my available credit. When I first bought my home in 2004 I did an 80/20 loan. I paid off the second mortgage, but I still owe almost all of what I borrowed on the first and I'm thinking that's hurting my score. Seems like I would have done better if it was all one loan that I paid down by 20%. In any event, since I'm looking to be in a position to buy an investment property soon, applying for new credit to improve my score seems like a bad idea. What's my best move here in terms of improving my score? Any way to handle the refi above to my advantage?

Thanks!
Jim