New Member Seeking Guidance

[Milan Villarreal]

Hello BP folks!

My wife and I have a 4bed 3bath house in the RGV with a swimming pool and 2.5% interest rate. We have about 230k of equity in the house. But we likely will be moving in a year to San Antonio or Austin. We want to get started with Real Estate Investing and grow a portfolio. Our idea is to rent out our home and use the equity (HELOC or cash out Refi) to move into a multifamily.

If we use a HELOC we would need to refinance quick to pay off the debt... and that stresses me out. If we cash out refinance we would likely lose our low interest rate. Is it even worth keeping the house in the valley or should we just sell and move forward to a new market? I'm nervous about getting into debt. Any guidance is appreciated. We are excited to be part of this community.