Strategies for Financing the next investment?

[Lisa Guerin]

Hello,

I have a rental property which was originally purchased with a HELOC. I have held onto the property for a few years beyond renting it, so my children could use it for college. I am looking for a few creative strategies for using the rental to purchase several other properties , so I am considering selling it and paying off the mortgage and starting again, or refinancing it and using the equity for buying other properties, but this would increase the amount owed on two mortgages. If I decided to keep renting instead of selling, how hard is hard money to find for additional investments ?