Getting Started HELOC!

[Berry Starnes]

First of all.  I have been an investor for a few years now.  However, it hasn't been in real estate. ..it has been in the stock market.  I have been a value investor and have a small following on an investment blog.  I thought that Stocks were the only way to wealth.  I was firm in my view....until now.

 A few months ago I stumbled on Rich Dad Poor Dad and started listening to a few of Robert's Podcasts.  Our values align and I stumbled across Ken McElroy's ABCs of Buying Rental Property.  I then mentioned my newfound epiphany in real estate to a lady in my sunday school who happens to be an investor/property manager.  She pointed me to this site and I have been on a one-track mind about learning as much as I can over the past few weeks.  Thanks to Brandon Turner I have neglected all my other goals in life to focus on this one...Acquiring my First Investment property.  I'm Currently starting The Book on Rental Property Investing.  

I have some equity in my property and with my 4 lovely kids and their activities I hope to not have to touch our emergency fund or Stock investing accounts (Roth IRA, Brokerage, TSP). I am a medical professional and am not too concerned with cash flow at the moment. My goal is to acquire properties for future equity to retire early. I'm currently 36 and feel late to real estate. I'd like to hear others that have started at my age.

I was initially wanting to receive a conventional loan and pay a downpayment in cash from savings and buy and hold properties. However, my philosophy seems to have changed with my research. I'm hoping to Open a HELOC and to BRRRR after finding the right team. My current team is...me. :) As you can see I'm really 'getting started'. I figured writing this out and telling as many people as I know will force me to jump of the proverbial cliff into buying my first property. Of course I want to Repeat the process with this money from the HELOC as many times as I can and hold on to these properties until it makes sense to consolidate into a larger multi-unit property. Or hold forever? Time will tell.

I'm in the Portage/Kalamazoo, MI area (recently moved from FL 2 years ago; 'new' to the area), What is the exact process that you go through to get a HELOC? How long can you leave this line of credit open? Any fees associated with opening or leaving this open or closing the line of credit? Do you have to pay for an appraisal on your current property or do they use an estimate? Thanks everyone!