IS THERE A TERM?! HELOC, INVESTMENT PROPERTY, PRE APPROVAL

[Josue Lopez]

BACKGROUND: I WANT TO PURCHASE A SECOND INVESTMENT HOME, I CURRENTLY DONT LIVE IN MY HOUSE I RENT IT OUT COMPLETELY (3UNITS), IVE BUILT UP ENOUGH EQUITY AND I WOULD LIKE TO USE IT.

QUESTIONS: DO I APPLY FOR A HELOC FIRST OR A PRE APPROVAL FOR A PROPERTY? CAN I DO SO SIMUTANEOUSLY?

CAN I USE A HELOC FOR A DOWN PAYMENT? IS THERE A TERM FOR THIS TYPE OF LOAN?

SHOULD I BE "LIVING" ON THIS PROPERTY TO BETTER MY CHANCES AT A HELOC? HOW DO I APPROACH IT?

REALISTICALLY I WOULD LIKE TO GET APPROVED FOR A MORTGAGE LOAN AND ALSO APPROVED FOR A HELOC ON MY CURRENT PROPERTY SO THAT I CAN ADD VALUE OR REPAIR THE "NEW" PROPERTY FOR QUICK TURNOVER/RENTAL AM I BEIGN IGNORANT OR IS THIS POSSIBLE??

THANKS!

[Andrew Postell]

@Josue Lopez some good comments above. I would recommend speaking with a HELOC lender first. You need to know what LTV that HELOC will go up to. If you owe 65% LTV on the property, and the HELOC will only go to 70%....then that's 5% you could use for a new home. Is that enough? Maybe, but they we take that information to your traditional lender (maybe they might be the same entity?). But the reason I'm saying go to the HELOC lender first is that if you owe 65% LTV...and they will only lend to 65% LTV....then we need another solution. Maybe another lender? But start with the HELOC route first since those are usually harder to find. That's my recommendation.

Oh, and yes, if you live in the property you will get better terms.  But I'm not saying to "live" in the property (in quotation marks)....you really need to live there to get those better terms.  Hope that makes sense.