Best Strategic Finance/Refinance Options to Leverage more buys

[Dave Gibb]

This is my first post to this forum. While I've been buying rental real estate for the past 6 years, and currently own and rent 4 properties in Florida, I'm hoping that there will be much more experienced and knowledgeable people here who are willing to share some advice with a relative newbie. So far in the game, I've been self-financing, and own my 4 condo units in Florida outright. Three of them are professionally managed by an established property management firm (with good tenants in place), while the fourth is furnished and operated as an Airbnb vacation rental. I've missed some great opportunities over the years by not refinancing and leveraging sooner. But I'm hoping it's not too late. My "mentor" had advised taking lines of credit, as opposed to regular loans or mortgages, against existing properties, in order to finance new acquisitions. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the fact that I am Canadian? I do have an established credit record in the U.S., with a credit score of about 750. However, I spend most of the year in Canada at the present time. My Florida properties are held by an LLC of mine. I have a business account at a large U.S. bank, with locations in both New York state (near my current residence), and Florida. I have looked into HMLs, however I wonder if this is in fact necessary when I am not buying distressed properties, and plan to hold and rent them? Would banks consider refinancing my properties? (on much better terms, with no initial $4000 fee?). Would a line of credit be the best option vs. a conventional mortgage? I did hear at one point that banks would not offer mortgages for condos in Florida? How does my Canadian status affect these options? Hopefully, since financing is my "final frontier" in self-education, somebody here can offer some sound advice. Thanks so much. D.