How to Make my Second Move?

[Andy Cox]

Hi everybody! New member, but been listening to the podcast for a while now, finally decided to get serious about it. I don't know a lot about financing real estate investment, and am trying to figure out the best strategy for purchasing my next investment property. I say next, because my wife and I recently purchased a rental from my father. It's cashflow positive by about $200 per month and we're pretty happy with it as it's in good shape and we have a decent tenant. We have about $60k in equity in the house, which is worth something like $150-160k. What we don't have is a down payment on our next property. We live in a resort town and thus our rent precludes us from saving money very quickly, so I'm hoping to use the equity in the first property to help finance the second. Is the best way to do this to refinance it and get a HELOC (our current lender won't lend on a property outside the state the home is located)? Is there a way to put 0 down but use the first home as collateral? Just trying to avoid paying PMI. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!