First SOLO rental! - refi now or later?

[Justin Caputo]

I close tomorrow on my first AZ rental, yay! I bought a SFR in Scottsdale from a wholesaler at $399k and used a hard money lender to lock it up at 9.9% with $60k down. Rehab costs will be out of pocket. My plan is to rehab it for under $30k and move in around December and live in it for the first 6 months - a year, and then do a cash out refi in 6 months, (minimum 6 month requirement) to move to the next one..

so my question is....should I do a rate refi immediately after I close to get out of the 9.9% rate and into a 2.75% to lower holding costs or wait 2 months when the rehab is done? Then I plan to do another refi to pull cash out as soon as I can at the 6 month mark.

I'm kicking myself for doing the hard money in the beginning but I had to in order to lock it up. The $60k down took a lot out of my rehab budget so that's a bummer. Still debating on making this a STR as it would double the income, just need to look into it more. This sounds so much easier on podcasts lol

So please let me know what you think, ANY suggestions, tips are highly encouraged!

Thank you!