Dilemma over next steps to take, looking for advice!

[Carolyn Leonforte]

Good afternoon from Germany! As a quick introduction, I'm an active-duty Air Force member stationed at Rammstein Air Base. My retirement is knocking on the door, four years away from 20! I'm ready to take my next step, and would love to work toward my goal now while enjoying the luxury of a steady income. I have been working diligently on increasing my personal financial intelligence, reading everything I can get my hands on! My goal is to invest in commercial properties or multi-family units (or both) to produce a passive income and partially, or fully, retire in 10 or so years. I found this great website and thought I would throw my dilemma out to the masses for some advice. So here it is, I own two homes, one in Oklahoma with a full-time tenant and one in Maryland that currently operates as an Airbnb. Between the two homes, I have $140,000 in equity. Also, I am very lucky to have the option of a low interest rate VA Business Loan. I am torn between taking out home equity line of credit, selling one or both properties to trade up avoiding capital gains tax, or keeping both and pitching banks for the VA business loan. What step would you take next to fund another investment?