CASH vs HELOC for down payment

[Edward Norman]

So I'm getting ready to close on a property in a couple weeks and will need 40k to close. I have that in my bank but if I use it for the down payment I'll have little to no "cash" reserves. I have a 70k HELOC which i originally intended to use for the down payment, pay it back and repeat. But now wondering it it makes sense to use cash to avoid the interest only payments. I suppose I could use the HELOC as cash reserves but I guess I just like the comfort of cash (which may or may not actually make sense).

Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated.

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Edward Norman, I would use the HELOC as my reserve money. Instead of a HELOC you could have done a cash out refi and had cash sitting in the bank, but then you'd be paying interest while it wasn't being used.

I personally budget 10-15% for vacancy, repairs, and cap ex so I have cash for most anything that comes up, but I keep an open HELOC for any emergency I could not plan and budget for and also to use if I come across a random deal I want to jump on.