RE Investing After Divorce

[Andy More]

My wife and I recently got a divorce. For that last several years I have done very little real estate investing because she didnt want me to do it and wanted me to focus more of my time on our family. Well, that didnt work and I am now divorced and want to get back into real estate investing. The good news is I have alot more time to devote to real estate investing, the bad news is I have 1/2 the money as when I was married.

When I was investing more actively I found that I made the quickest and easiest money when I found a deal, paid cash, and guaranteed a quick and simple close for the seller then quickly flipped the property for a profit. So, this is the plan I want to continue with going forward.

Here is my plan to move forward, I'm asking you guys to shoot holes in my plan and tell me why this isnt a good route to go.

I want to buy a single family home to occupy for lets say 170k and I want to pay cash. After purchasing for cash I can take out a line of credit with my local bank up to 90% LTV and the rate would be adjustable and based on Prime. So, if I did this I could have access to about 150k at a moments notice to buy a real estate DEAL whenever I found it and then flip it for a profit. So, when I wasnt in the process of flipping a property I would be living mortgage free.

One side note, i'm 35 and have an equivalent amount of money in the stock market so this if things went bad with flipping I do have a cushion in place. I have no other debts and work a day job making decent living.

I was originally thinking of putting most everything in the stock market, financing a house to live in at 80% ltv and then just liquidate stock to flip rentals. But, the idea of moving a large amount of money in and out of the stock market does not seem like a smart thing to do.

Can someone tell me why this isnt a good idea? Any comments welcome.