Hi,
I am in Hartford County, Connecticut. My wife and I have solid jobs are 50 years old and have three kids in college. We own our house outright which is valued @ $375,000. Other than that, no real cash on hand. We would like to get started with investing and are thinking the easiest route would be to identify a property either SFH, Multifamily or a property with an in-law suite or other rentable unit within a unit. We'd like to find a top notch realtor who is an investor and has lots of experience identifying/buying/selling properties that meet the 70% ARV model with higher than 1% Rent/Purchase price criteria. We would then take out a Home equity loan, rehab, rent and hold, refinancing when we want to do another deal.

I am wondering if banks will allow us use home equity loans for properties that meet the above criteria because they will likely be somewhat distressed. Thoughts?

I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a great realtor who meets the above criteria and who has an eye for what specific repairs are needed vs. unnecessary to minimize costs and maximize resale and rent.

Another thought if banks won't allow us to buy distressed properties that meet the criteria above would be to list our house for sale, if we get the price we want, we sell and then we have cash on hand to make an aggressive cash offer for a property that meets the criteria. Under this scenario, we would need a place to stay after the sale of our house and until the purchased property (probably a multifamily so we could house hack) can be rehabbed enough for us to move into at least one of the units, finish rehabbing all units, rent, refinance repeat. We do have family willing to let us stay with them or we could buy an RV or rent something short term while the units are being rehabbed. We have family that in the building business that could help steer us towards good contractors.

Thoughts on the two methods? Other methods we could use that aren't listed? What would you do if you were us?