Where to start after I’ve started?

[Greg Henderson]

I’m looking for guidance or opinions for the future. Currently I own my home and I make a decent salary for my area, Hattiesburg, MS. Housing is cheap. I bought the home I live in through a foreclosure and decided I would remodel it myself. I’ve never worked in any residential construction craft, but I just dove into it. From the outside looking in, it was a terrible idea but I’ve been lucky. I ripped this place apart to studs and concrete. I rebuilt it over a year and a half using my off time from the 9-5. It went better than expected, I suppose. The experience was priceless.

Fast forward a few years, I now own my primary residence and 5 rental properties. I buy distressed property and rehab myself. Some things I have to contract out for permitting purposes through the city of course, but I’m comfortable doing most work myself. YouTube and determination goes a long way.

My brother in law is in banking, but it's mostly large commercial loans. So he's guided me the best he can but the language he speaks is foreign and I need residential guidance I believe. My credit is over 800, and I've built up some cash reserves at this point. All but the unit I'm currently working on is rented. I've maxed out my loan capacity at his bank. So what's next? My returns on current property is at 2.2% monthly rent/ amount owed averaged over all rental property. They're all SFR and I'm around 240k in positive equity with a decent cash flow.

What would you do from here? Duplexes and larger appear to only sell off market from what I’ve seen in my market. I’ve mostly skirted around the swarm of investors and picked at what I could find myself through Zillow. I’ve gotten lucky up to this point and I understand I need to educate myself. Where do I start? I’ve basically nose dived into the unknown and come out on top somehow. All of my loans have been commercial. I get a loan based on the appraisal of the property subject to the work that will be completed. It’s interest only until its completed. Then I cash out refinance at the end and pull out the equity to roll into the next project. Do I have better or cheaper options? Banking fees are quite high and my interest rate is averaged around 5.5% for 15 years. Any advice is appreciated!