What to do with investment money I am saving up?

[Sean Witherspoon]

I am new to real estate investing. I am planning on buying my first rental over the next few months. I do not have much to start with. I want to utilize the BRRRR method of investing. I am planning on buying properties around $40,000. I have $10,000 for a down payment, which meets the 20% that most hard money lenders ask for when lending to new investors. On my primary residence, I have about $35,000 in equity and a lender that will give me a HELOC for up to 95%. My question is: should I use my $10,000 that I have saved on a property down payment or should I put it to the principle on my primary residence so that I can take out a larger HELOC to use for down payments? Thanks in advanced for the advice!

[Bob Woelfel]

@Sean Witherspoon Since you are new, I would keep saving and try to only use the 10k you have now to get into your first property.  Don't put your primary residence at risk by leveraging that any more than it already is.  After you've done some deals and have more experience then I would say you could start to consider that.  Good luck.