Looking for my next purchase.

[Mitch Kronowit]

Now that we've completed the eviction of a dirt-bag tenant and have the Murrieta house re-rented to a nice family, we're looking at the next step in building our real estate "empire".

A recap of our profile: We live in Orange County, Ca and rent out a condo in San Diego (performing very well) and a house in Murrieta, Ca (been nothing but problems since we bought it last year, but things are looking up).

I would like to add more rental properties to our portfolio, but not sure the best way to go about it. We've built back about $15 - 20k in cash for our next deal and I can tap about $50-75k in equity from the condo, but only from a HML as traditional lenders ignore my 800 FICO score and agonize over DTI requirements (yeah, we don't make enough money to pay our bills according to them, but still manage to do it every month and put money in the bank). However, hard money would be at too high a cost for a buy & hold rental. I'm thinking maybe a flip to build up some capital/play money and invest that into a buy & hold.

I also have a friend or two interested in investing with me on a property (the last time they looked at the interest rate on their money market fund they wanted to puke). So I can maybe get $5 -15k from them depending on the deal. We're pretty much at 80% LTV on the Murrieta house and our own residence.

So that's the big picture. Traditional funding dried up? Must look out of state? Any advice, words of wisdom, constructive criticism, or magic spells to share? Thanks for any and all advice.

Have a great weekend everyone!