Putting A Plan in Place for Second Property

[Charyl Jones]

So I've been house hacking for 3 years with my current (and only) property. I want to get things going so I can buy my second property. Here's the story. I bought this single family house for $55,000 and it appraised for $68,000 at the time. The inside of the house was mostly already renovated. I've put in a new roof, new furnace, and a new water heater. I still need to put in a new central A/C, and redo the bathroom a bit. I've used up a lot of my money and I keep reading in books how it's good to use other people's money. I've heard about a handful of different loans for home improvements. I'm trying to decide if that would be a good route for finishing up my house.

Once it's finished I would like to get the equity from my house to help me with purchasing my second single family property. I've mostly been focusing on cash out refinancing or a HELOC. Still not sure which would be the best option??

For my second property I will have to look for a loan in order to purchase it. I'm looking for something that will need some fixing up, not a major gut job, especially since I'm still new to fixing up houses. And I will live there and house hack there while I get everything done. 

I'm hoping that I'm on the right path. Any advice? Also should I worry about it looking bad on my credit, or people rejecting me if I take out too many loans or lines of credit?