Need help determining my best financing option

[Michael Anderson]

All,

I am diving in the pool of real estate investing. I believe I have several options and would like advice on picking the best one. To help with the decision here is a little about my current situation. My wife and I both work professionally and have good secure jobs. Like many we have a fair amount of money in 401K, Roth, and traditional IRA. We have owned our current house for about 7 years and have somewhere between $150K-$200K equity in that. We have 4 kids, 1 in college, 1 junior, 1 6th grade, and 1 4th grade. The 2 youngest are boys and would like to teach them the building process. I should also say I have remodeled many homes over the years and even general contracted an upscale new one (my most successful endeavor). I have personal friends in real estate and building so have good connections there, and know the city code pretty well from my remodels. Finally, my goal is buy and hold but may do some flips up front to get the machine oiled. This should paint a good picture of where I'm at, now to my questions.

I don't have 20% down today to start my venture, it will probably take me until March to achieve that naturally. I would like to get started more quickly on my first deal. Here are some options I could think of in the order I feel may be best. Also if you are from Sioux Falls area, can you provide the best banking institutions to work with.

1. Should I open a HELOC on primary residence, enough to buy and rehab a property?
2. Should I look at borrowing against my retirement?
3. Should I do a cash out refinance on primary residence, enough to buy and rehab a property (I'm worried about tax implications here)?
4. Should I look for investing partner, family, friends, etc. (not crazy about doing this)?
5. Should I look at hard money or spend time on creative financing (don't like the risk and expense on a first deal)?
6. Should I wait and save the money needed for the 20% down (don't like waiting, winter may produce some good deals)?
7. Probably hundreds more ideas, please guide me ....

All help and guidance is greatly appreciated.  :)