Tons of House Equity ; What to Do ??

[Kaitlin Gourlie]

Hey y'all! 

I'm new here, and i'll put it out there i'm Canadian, so many things are done a bit different out here, but overall mindset the same! 

I have a primary residence, the mortgage on it is peas, roughly $65,000. However I have a HELOC that i've used for renovations on the home and a bit of just life in general; HELOC has $136,000 on it.

The value of my property has gone up considerably since purchasing (great appreciation plus my improvements), so i'm thinking about doing a cash out refinance, paying off my HELOC/consolidating it into the mortgage, and using the remainder of equity take out as a down payment on an income property.

Question is!! 

1. Firstly... is that a good idea lol interest rates are significantly higher now than when I recently renewed my mortgage.

2. If you had the choice, would you be inclined to put the Minimum amount down for the investment property? Or mid range to keep payments lower? Or all Cash (if possible). 

3. Or thirdly.... I could likely purchase a house with a suited basement, live in the top, rent out the bottom, this way I only have to put 5% down, and I could rent out both my (now) primary residence, plus the lower suite of the new house. 

Looking forward to advice from your experience on all above! 

Thanks :)