Scaling into multiple properties

[Christian Hanus]

Hello all,

I recently closed on my first rental property last November and things are going well with it. Of course, now that I have my primary and one rental property, my next goal is to start scaling. I'm trying to figure out what the best method is today without having to wait until I have 25% saved up from my W2 earnings for every purchase. Here are the different methods I've thought about but haven't had much success with lately. What have other people done to scale faster?

1) Owner financing with DP less than 20%, some sellers open to it but typically not for less than 20% from what I've ask realtors.

2) Cash out refinance. Doesn't make any sense on my primary with the low interest rate it has. The rental property hasn't appreciated enough in 3 months for a cash-out refinance to make sense.

3) Third and what I think might be the most promising is finding a lender to take a second lien on either primary or investment property but it sounds like most lenders haven't had an appetite for that since the end of 2022/beginning of 2023.

I'd love any suggestions on how to start the snowballing effect going now instead of having to wait to get 20-25% down for another purchase. Thanks in advance.