House value doubled-take out HELOC and rent or sell?

[Stepha L Lockwood]

Hi all!  I started my RE investing journey about a year ago but was majorly derailed by job and family circumstances, and now a huge decision has brought me back into the game fortunately, and I could really use some advice/perspective as I try to figure out what to do :).

The situation is that my townhouse in N. Charleston, SC has doubled in value since I bought it eight years ago - yay! I was originally planning on staying in the house and taking out a HELOC to fund any investments, but now I've decided to move back to my hometown - hopefully within the next two months to be near more family - especially my aging grandmother. I also have a 9 year-old daughter, which complicates things, because any property I buy in for us to live in initially when we make the move has to be in a good elementary school district, and investment properties in those areas are being snatched up like hotcakes of course, and the prices of rehabbed/newer properties have skyrocketed! It's been difficult so far to find anything in a great elementary school district for under $100K - pretty much everything has been rehabbed to some extent and is running $110K - 150K (at the low end) or much more for nicer properties.

At first, I figured I could still take out the HELOC on my Charleston home and then rent my house out, as gross income (rent - PITI+PMI+HOA) would be $660 and the house is only 8 years old, so I would hope no major repairs/expenses would be on the near horizon. I have good connections here in Charleston to oversee things when needed and would only be 3 hours away, so I would just manage the rental myself for now. The "problem" is that the value of my townhome is so high now, that my W-2 income can't support the debt of the maximum HELOC I could take out on the home (so I can't take the equity out by refinancing either), and I could most likely only get a HELOC for $100K (which is still awesome of course), but, if I sell the home, I could make approx. $146K in gross profit (absent realtor commission,etc.) and have that money free and clear to take with me and buy another primary residence and begin investing when I move.

So, I'm first trying to figure out if I should keep the Charleston house and get the $100K HELOC, while the CHS house is still my primary residence, to use for investing either in my hometown or possibly long-distance, because it seems like the house would be a great cash flowing property to have, and someone else would be paying it off for me :), or if I should sell the house.

And if I keep the Charleston house, because it might be difficult to find a property in my hometown to move into and rehab in a great school district in the short amount of time I have, I'm wondering if I should even bother using the HELOC to obtain the property my daughter and I would be moving into or should I just straight up and apply for a mortgage if the house doesn't need a lot of work, as my W-2 income could currently support a mortgage for a couple of the homes I've been seeing like that; or can I make an offer on a home I see now and let the seller know that I'm currently in the process of obtaining funding from a HELOC and funds will be available in three to four weeks and have a good chance of having my offer accepted and then be able to go to a bank and get a mortgage? I don't want to miss out on any opportunities that might come along while I'm waiting for this HELOC funding to come through, but of course, I don't think I could get pre-approved for another mortgage at the same time I'm trying to take out a HELOC, right?

Thanks for reading this long post!  I surely do appreciate any insight/advice as I try to figure out the best course to take, and if any of the above is confusing, I can definitely try to parse out the details.  Thanks so much!!

Stephanie