HELOC on an investment property?

[Timothy Trewin]

Greetings all,

I have been trying to get creative with financing on an investment property and have run into snags. I was denied a HELOC or even just an equity loan on an investment property that I own and wanted to know if this is the norm or if it was the bank I used. Basically I have a home that I currently rent out that I wanted to draw out some of the equity on in order to put money down on another purchase. I currently owe $203,000 on it and the home is valued at $266,000 so i was basically trying to pull $20,000 out but was denied by the bank. They stated that I could have pulled out $10,000 had it been my primary residence. This is all with excellent credit.

Will this be a standard that I will face as I keep trying as my credit takes a hit every time a bank considers me for one of these, or is this an outlier? Also are there any lenders that others have used in the past that are more friendly towards investors? I am not concerned about getting the loan for financing the property, but the lender I am using does not do HELOCs or equity loans. I do not want to drain my emergency fund in order to have the funds to pay for the down payment and would rather leverage the equity I already have. I appreciate any help that can be provided by anyone here.

Tim