Looking to make my first purchase

[Jeff Moe]

Hey all, love the site and the podcast etc. 

I am looking to get into REI and am trying to find the best avenue possible.

- I have 200k in home equity that I could leverage into a max of 140k in a HELOC(approved already)

- 100k in trust/retirement funds

- 40k in a brokerage account

-15k in cash

I am in the Portland, OR market, which has been very hot and is hard to get return on rentals(around .5% per month). Should i be looking into other markets( I like the Jacksonville, FL market a bit)? I don't want to overextend my leverage and abuse my HELOC but also don't feel like I have enough to start out with outside of that.

Should I use my HELOC to oversee a few flips to build up my equitable assets before I look to buy and hold?