New member introduction

[David Appe]

Hi there! I've been listening to Bigger Pockets for the last several months trying to educate myself on the subject of real estate investing. I am currently living in a home where I've been the last 2 years and I rent out two rooms to a friend and a family member. I recently got an appraisal on my home and I have around $35,000 in equity the home. I'm looking to purchase a single family and was wondering what's the best way to go about this? I have applied for a HELOC through a local lender and plan on using that money to use as a down payment on my first rental property. But I want to make sure I'm going about this the right way. I am a high school teacher, so I don't believe a bank would loan me the money to purchase a 2nd home according to my debt to income without using the HELOC loan. Any feedback is great! I'm all ears.

Happy to be apart of the BP community!