Advice Please: Debt Consolidation Using Equity - YES/NO?

[JD Peterson]

Thank you in advance for your help! I'm trying to figure out, big picture, if this is worth it and I would DEEPLY appreciate the advice of people who have been working with real estate (investors, financial planners/investors, people who just know a lot more than me) sharing your invaluable advice. ;-)

Quick facts:

Current mortgage of $204k

Current Appraisal in Austin market is around 330-350k (could be more, but that's being conservative). The Austin market is still going strong and we live in a very desirable area.

We *could* roll up some debt and take our mortgage to 284k.

This would increase our mortgage payment by 566/month, but by reducing the monthly minimum payments with the debt disappearing we would gain an additional 1000-1100/month (after the 566 is deducted).

I'm also aware that mortgage interest is something we can deduct from our annual taxes vs. other debt which we can't...

This is not our forever home, but we've had so much equity in our home for so long that I can tell I'm fearful to cut into our equity, but I don't want baseless emotion to make this decision and keep us tied to something that we're not looking to stay in forever. I would like to know, FINANCIALLY, what is the best decision big picture.

We could also SELL our home if that was the best option, big picture. So not adding to our debt, but pocketing cash and paying off debt that way.

What would you do and why? I'm asking because we'd like to make the best financial decision to have more money for future investments in real estate, etc...

Again, THANK YOU very much for any and all advice. Your time is DEEPLY appreciated.

~

JD

Austin, Texas

[Scott Jensen]

How much is your non-mortgage debt and what is it from?  Also, what are the terms of the debt (length of the loans, interest rate, etc).