Can you use a heloc for a mortgage?

[Sheeva R.]

Hi, I was wondering if someone could give insight into my situation. We own two homes - one we rent and the other we live in. We would like to move out of the current house we live in, rent it out and buy another home to live in (need more space and looking at another location). However we do not want to sell our current home as it is in a high appreciation area. Can we use our equity in these homes as downpayment for the next? Also my husband said that we need to show a rental history for one year before we are able to buy another place - is that true? Any way around this? Thanks, Sheeva