Best way to Leverage Home Equity to start investing in Real Estat

[Vinod Badami]

Hi All, have been ardently reading BP forums, listening to podcasts and webinars  and think I am ready to take the plunge into investing in a rental property. Where I need advice is - my primary home is fully paid up so I have a good amount of equity, should I pay for the rental property completely using my home equity or should I only take the down payment from the home equity and get a mortgage on the rental? Getting a mortgage means I have to pay significantly more in closing costs while getting a HE loan is basically free. It seems like a no brainer but want to learn from the pro's on BP what the best way to go is?