Rockwall, TX-Turning Primary Residence to Rental Property

[James Valle]

Hello investors, I'm hoping some folks can provide ideas or thoughts I may not have considered. We owned a rental property in Miami, FL that we sold pre-COVID to use the money for a down payment for our house in Rockwall, TX. Considering the escalation in property values since then, we have our regrets on that move, but the past is the past. We are looking to get back into the real estate world and we realized as opposed to venturing out outside of our area, our best investment property option may be under our nose. Rockwall, TX is the most affluent (and smallest) county in Texas. Rental properties here fly off the market. Renters tend to be higher income families either moving into Texas or those leaving other nearby areas and wanting to get into Rockwall.

We want to get into a bigger home in Rockwall for our family so instead of selling our current home to use the money for the down payment, we would much rather raise the capital for a down payment, rent out our current home that has a 3.5% interest rate and use that profit towards our next primary home mortgage. Certainly we would escalate our own savings, but would things like HELOC, or other options, make sense in our situation? I have an 830 credit score, so that isn't an issue. Just looking for thoughts on this, or if anyone thinks we may have better options or are going down the wrong path, I would certainly welcome that feedback as well.

Thanks!