Home Equity Loan Qualification vs.

[Devon Carlock]

I would like to take on real estate investing full time. I have two options I am considering:  1)  Sell my house to get cash to work with.  Rehab a property, then create a traditional mortgage to pull my cash back out for next project.  2)  Get home equity loan...rent out my house in San Jose, CA for a good amount of rent income...then use my loan to do a flip somewhere more affordable.  My question is...in either case what about lenders caring about income? If you don't have traditional employment...how does that work? Do they just care about the value of the property itself? I have a ton of equity in my current home...and when I applied for a HELOC a few years ago they said my "debt to income ratio was unfavorable". At the time I made $50K a year and had about $600K of equity in my home. I would love to keep my current home in San Jose, CA...rent it out for a sizeable rent and let the value continue to grow.  But does that mean I have to line up a job in that new location i find before I can secure my loan? And how does my rental income factor in?  Thanks for any advice!