HELOC in Texas on Flip turned Rental Property

[Manny Raimondo]

Hello everyone, I have an issue I was hoping for some advice on. I did my first flip, and it went pretty well all things considered but have had some issues on the back end. I financed with hard money on a 6 month term. Unfortunately, it did not sell before my 6 months was up, and instead of paying the 2 point extension fee, I opted for exit strategy #2, which was refi and rent. I was not able to cash-out refi due to having the property less than 6 months, so I had to do a rate and term refi and had to pull off the market to do the refi. I closed on the refi out of the hard money last week. I have almost $65k in equity but am now carrying about $40k in mid to high interest debt from the rehab (private loan, Home Depot project loan and some credit card) that I had hoped to pay off when the property sold, or with the cash out on the refi. The property cash flows as a rental, but not great, about $250/mo after PITI. Minimum payments on the debt eat all that up and more. I am looking into a HELOC or home equity loan to tap some of that equity to pay off the higher interest debt. My problem is that I have only been able to find lenders willing to loan 60% LTV on investment properties. I realize now that I would have been better off paying the 2 points to extend the hard money term so that I could have done a cash out refi, but that ship has sailed. I need 80% or better to cover off the higher interest debt. My question is, are there any lending institutions that you would recommend that will do an equity line or line with a higher LTV on an investment property? I am in the Houston, TX market. Sorry, that was longer than intended. Thanks for reading.