Met with a commercial lender today

[Account Closed]

I met with a commercial lender to see if I could put together a line of credit collateralized by the properties I already have.  He said he could do it, but I would be refinancing my cheap 30yr mortgages into shorter 15yrs, and they would adjust every 5yrs.  Not to mention the points and other costs involved.  

So, thank you; but no.  

What I gathered from the conversation was that I should probably get a little more equity in my primary residence, then I could secure a HELOC on that and THEN go shopping for new rentals.

The goal of all this was to get into a position where I could buy a midrange house for cash, then refi into a 30yr mortgage.  

Next steps:

1.  Find a lender that will lend me money based on the appraised value. 

2.  Find deals that will appraise for at least 20% more than my purchase price.  

Any thoughts?