Hi everyone! First post. Accessing home equity question

[Stephen Castro]

Hello everyone, Well I'm looking to get some investment properties in Jan. 2015, and am trying to laying out the best strategy ahead of time. So the question I have is, what would be the best strategy for accessing the equity I have in my house. I purchased a good neighbor next door home and was obligated to live in it for 3 years. At the conclusion of the 3 years (Jan.2015) they release half of the loan on the house. My goal is to use the equity that will be written off to go towards my down payments on a few investment properties that I will rent out. I'm not sure what would be the best route to go. Should I sell the house? Pull out a home equity loan? Is there a different technique that is far superior that I don't know about? Thank you in advance for any and all help! Stephen