I'd put down 200K on each of the houses, and even with the current rates, I'd break even or be cash flow negative by about $100 a month on each of the two new houses. No big deal. Nice thing is, prices are depressed, and I make my money primarily through equity. In fact I take out money every few years to buy more houses via cash out refinances.

Here are big reasons I want to do this:

-Max out my conventional loans, before retiring from my W2 job at 42.

-I will do cash out refinances with a portfolio lender after that, to buy more houses, since they don't require W2 income. So the desire to max out conventional loans is primarily for that reason. Then again, since the rates are so high, I guess it doesn't matter if I do it later with a portfolio lender. But at least I can get the houses at a huge discount right now.

-I'm tired and want to retire.

-I have 1.4 mil in cash sitting in CD's.

-I plan on retiring with dividend stocks and rental income from my other rentals, and having about 600K in tech growth stocks for long term wealth in addition to the dividend stocks.

-I have never done well in the stock market and am a bit wary of putting significant money in there. As such, I'd rather put 400K down on two more rentals, this way more of my money is in real estate which is where I have done well.

-That said, had I left my money in Apple stock instead of using it to buy a house 15+ years ago, I'd actually have more money, so it seems with stocks the key is to buy quality and be patient...with houses patience is built in since it's expensive to buy and sell...

tl;dr

I already have 8 rental houses, but I want to retire soon and live off dividend stocks and rental income mix. I'm leery of putting too much money in the stock market, so I am planning on buying 2 more rentals with 200K down EACH, to make them cash flow at current rates. This way I max out my conventional loans and when I retire in a few months, I will have maxed out my conventional loans and lose nothing by not working anymore, since I will have to use a portfolio lender to buy rentals and don't need W2 income for that. Plus this way I have more of my liquid assets invested in safer real estate and less at risk in the stock market.

Tacoma, Washington

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