HELOC for investment property

[Zachary Penn]

Ill try to make a long story short. After doing about 6 months worth of homework I was almost ready to jump in, currently living near Tampa, FL my family was going to sell our house with a lot of equity and make a move to Knoxville, TN and start a new life (April 2020 was the plan). With this equity we were going to start buying rentals and trying our hand out at the BRRR. Seems easy enough from the books/forums but I know you learn everything from doing/failing or succeeding. Currently have so much equity in our home because we just did a live in fixerer upper (took 8 years), but we are more than capable in doing a lot of the projects that come with this. Then everything went sideways. Talking with the agent down here, selling seems to be a challenge. I have a stay at home wife and 2 young boys (1 and 3) and we do not want to expose them to anything unnecessary for the time being (showing a house/moving ect). But who knows what the right answer is right now, seems like everyone has a different opinion. So that leads me to my real question:

I am thinking of taking a HELOC out and buying an investment property. As of right now, I do not have the cash to do this but do not want to lose excitement/motivation in the process. Looking for help and want someone to convince me why this is a good/bad idea. I completely understand the risk that comes with this but also look at the reward that can come as well. If we are stuck in place for 6months/2 years, why not get a head start on this new business plan?

Please let me know if anyone has done this and if it worked or didnt and why. Thank you everyone. 

[Michael Valerio]

It's not a bad idea at all. The challenges will be the recent tightening of qualification standards, but if you've got some reserves, proof of decent income, and a credit score above 700, you should be fine. The rates are reasonable (mortgage rates just dropped again yesterday as an attempt to offset the standards tightening, which effects Home Equity Lines rates as well). My advice would be to do your best to find a deal that will have you all in under 80% of the After Repair Value. Doing that will (as you may already know) will avoid PMI when you refi into a permanent loan, thus satisfying your HELOC. I found this link for you to check out current HELOC rates.

https://www.valuepenguin.com/mortgages/average-home-equity-loan-rates