Is my plan a good idea? HELOC + Rent

[Julyana Silveira]

My uncle owns his home and doesn't owe anything on it. I was thinking of proposing the idea to him of taking out a HELOC and reinvesting that money in other rentals. According to public records , his house is assessed at over 200k. He bought it For 70k. So taking out 70-90% with HELOC, reinvesting while collecting rent from the house is the idea.

But my idea was for him to take it out, me move in to his 3 bedroom, rent out 2 bedrooms either on Airbnb or fixed tenants. Have the rents from the rooms cover the full rent. So I can live rent free.

The house is a 3/2 in Deerfield beach, FL. It’s newly renovated. In a decent area. I’ve calculated that the rent would be anywhere from 1550-1800 for the area. I currently live in a 3/2.5 and it’s 1600 on a lake ! So I don’t think it’ll be more than that. Airbnb’s around his area with the same comps are at about 30-50/day. Rooms with fixed tenants usually rent for about 650-700 in the area also. And in this house it can easily rent for that much.

To sum up I want to know if this would be a good idea for both me and him. And if so what is the best way to present this idea to him? He has other properties and is a rehaber /investor. Just not on a huge scale. I'm not sure if he's familiar with HELOC strategy also.

I’m just getting started with investing but have no cash. I thought that maybe by cutting expenses (living rent free) is a good start. Then work my way up. I have experience in hosting Airbnb’s and having been studying a lot.