Question around HELOCs

[Joe McGovern]

Hello!

I'm a newbie from Iowa to the real estate investment world and am in need of capital to make my first investment. One of the options I've been looking into is using a HELOC on my primary residence. Before doing this though, I want to make sure I fully understand it. I would like to borrow around 10-15k to assist with a down payment. My thought would be to make the minimum payment for ~6 months, and then repay the 10k in full. I could just wait 6 months for that additional 10k to be made available to me, but want to have the HELOC as an option in the event that I find an awesome deal before then.

Could someone tell me how to calculate the minimum payment on this? Does interest compound? Are there any annual fees, maintenance fees, or closing costs I should beware of in opening this account?

Does anyone have any experience using a HELOC to fund part of a down payment?

Thanks for the help!