Primary paid cash, HELOC or mortgage?

[Thomas Nichols]

Looking for some advice and bigger pockets seems like the right group of people to ask. I currently own many rental properties and will be buying my primary residence with all cash. I will still have cash available after the purchase to use for down payments on other rental properties as I find good deals. My dilemma is should I get a mortgage on my primary or take out a HELOC?

I like that the HELOC means I only pay interest when I borrow the money and it would be used as a gap loan to purchase future properties in cash and then finance them. Then I pay off my HELOC completely.

What I don't like about a HELOC is I have the full purchase price locked into the house and the interest rate is variable so I don't want to use it for long-term money.

What I like about a mortgage is I have the opportunity to leave the cash invested in the stock market (thinking index fund kinda thing) and hopefully earn more than what I pay in interest which I think is a reasonable assumption over the long haul.

Thanks all