Leverage, debt, etc- how much are you comfortable with?

[Rachel N.]

Hi all, new to BP and I fully own one rental with a tenant in place, with another SFR purchase in process that's being partly funded by a HELOC from my primary residence. My plan was to pay for most of the property in cash and pay back the HELOC to free it up for future offers. However, thanks to BP I've learned that I should be leveraging a bit more of my equity in be future. But how much? I've read and searched hundreds of posts on BP, and I see a lot of people scaling up quickly with their investments, taking out multiple loans to do so. I understand how this is done, but what I'm wondering is, for those of you who have multiple buy and hold properties, at what point do you pay off your mortgages? How much debt are you comfortable with, and how much cash do you try to save up between buying properties? I am still trying to wrap my head around leverage, and how much people find acceptable before getting nervous about being overextended with too many loans. Thanks in advance for your reply!