3 properties in 3 years but how do I get my next one? Please help

[Dominic Seeker]

Hello everyone,

My name is Dominic Seeker. I am a paramedic and small time real estate investor in the Gateway City - St. Louis, MO. A few years ago my wife (a nurse) and I were tired of paying rent and wanted financial freedom from the costs of living. So we started learning about property investing. We moved into our first property - a 4-family building in 2018 and began rehabbing it until all our units were rented. We found the seller off-market and utilized an FHA loan for acquisition. The following year we found another property, a duplex. We utilized my FHA loan (as we were not yet married) and rehabbed this property as well. The following year we were married and bought our 3rd duplex (where we live now) with 5% down and FHA-like terms as we were technically "upgrading" to a larger home since we were married.

So now, with all of those tools used up, we are at a bit of an impasse for acquiring our next one. We have read about HELOC, cash-out refinance, home equity loans, hard money, etc. But we really cant figure out which is the best one for our situation. I would love advice from the pros here on biggerpockets. You all have answered many questions we had while learning how to do this over the past few years. And I greatly appreciate everyone's experience and expertise. Where should we head next??

Thank you!

Just for some additional details here is what we are working with below:

Property 1 - 4-family, 1B/1b apartments

Purchase price : $130,000 @ 4.5% (about $1150/month)

Rental income : ~$4000/month

Property 2 - Duplex, 2B/1b apartments

Purchase price : $160,000  @ 5% (about $1000/month)

Rental income : ~$3300/month

Property 3 - Duplex, 2B/1b apartments

Purchase price : $170,000 @ 3.25% (about $1000/month)

Rental income : $1500/month (we are occupying one unit)