Pay Down Heloc or hold onto cash?

[Tyler Bettencourt]

What should I do? I have a $100k heloc. In August i bought a rental property for $45k. (its performing well) Currently there is a balance of $40k against my heloc. I am planning to scale and to possibly buy 2 more properties in 2021. (2 properties for 100K or less). I am sitting on about $27k of my own cash. I really like the idea of putting that $27k towards the principal of my heloc to try to pay it off to start fresh again with $100k. However, I am nervous because it is not like I make a lot of $$ and will have $27k again in a few months. I always hear that it's best to hold on cash and to leverage your assets which i did with getting a heloc but I do want to pay it off to leverage it again in 2021. Is this the right move? I would love to hear of all your strategies.