Have equity with 2 houses, don't know where to start

[Account Closed]

Hey there guys,

I have been a working in the software sector and saving up for the last 11 years since college and have bought 2 houses so far but have not rented them out. What caused me to buy 2 houses is that I believe that real estate is a good and safe way to store wealth against inflation. Now I read into bigger pockets and really want to get into the whole real estate investing where I either rent out the properties or refi the properties and pull out the equity to buy more properties. What scares me away is tenant issues which I know will come up at some point, also I renovated the houses myself and put a lot of sweat into them, and reading about properties getting trashed by tenants really scares me away from renting the properties out.

house #1 I bought for 260k and it is now worth 400k-420k , it is currently my vacation home located in Henderson NV (comparable rent is 2000 a month) tax is 2150 a year , insurance is 1400 a year

house #2 I bought for 356k and it is now worth 450-470k in Cary NC. This is currently my primary residence (comparable rent is 2300 a month) tax is 4240 a year , insurance is 1480 a year

I was thinking about doing a cash out refi on my primary residence and then buying a house to rent out and also renting out the Henderson home once I clear the home of my furniture etc. Either that or use the money from the refi and buy a smaller home to live in and rent both homes out. I also thought about selling one of the properties, but from what I have read online, it is better to hold onto the properties and do cash out refis against them if I need the money. Just looking for advice, what would you do if you were in my situation?

[Mary Cronin]

You pay the manager a percentage - I've recently seen as low as 6% and as high as 10%. They will arrange and pay for repairs from the income and send the net to you. They will of course ask for more if it's a major expense (HVAC roof etc). They'll also handle evictions and move-ins/outs (probably an extra fee).