Bought 3 SFHs. Need advise on where to go next.

[Chan Park]

Hi BP community, I have been watching and listening to podcasts and youtube videos from BP consistently but I still feel stuck where I am, and so I am asking for your input as to what I need to look into or suggest books I should read. 

The last two-year run has been amazing for my family as we now have 3 SFHs in Austin, TX. Two SFH are being rented out and cash flowing very well since we bought them during the first wave of COVID. One of them is a secondary home and the other is an investment home. They have about 175k and 290k of equity, respectively. Our 3rd house will be a primary home and is a new build scheduled to be finished by end of this year.

I am a vet, so I am thinking about using the VA loan for the first time, but I'm still planning to put down 20% for the primary home. My ultimate goal is cash flow so I want to look at multi-family. For my next project (after closing our primary home), should I use my VA loan on this property instead and cashout refi on our investment/secondary property? I have never cashed out refi yet, so how will that affect my current cash flow?

Thanks for your input! 

[Malcomb Stapel]

@Chan Park  I don't have much input for you on which loan to use for what. That will be more dependent on how your numbers work out for you when you run them. However, for the cash out refi: most banks will allow you to cash out up to a set percentage. Depending on the lender lets say up to 70% of the homes estimated value. Unless you are cashing out to a lower interest rate (not likely now) then you will more than likely lose cash flow on that property. With the trade off being you can now go buy another cash flowing property. 

Another option is to see if they will do a HELOC on an investment property. This could allow you to tap into more of your equity if it has a higher percentage. Lets say the HELOC allows you to go up to 80% of the LTV ratio. The added benefit is you could keep your lower interest rate on the primary note and only tap equity, and pay for it, on an as needed basis.