Not so newbie in Oakland, CA

[Janet Voss]

I don't know why, but this introduction post has eluded me.  I'm going to get it written tonight, or I can't go to bed!  ;-)

Who am I?  I'm 55 years old and female.  I'm an engineer in the medical device field.  I was once married, but I am long divorced.  I'm a Southerner, born in Arkansas, educated in Mississippi and Texas, lived in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas before coming to California.  I lived in San Jose for a while (right on the Campbell border), and in San Francisco, but I currently live in Oakland.

What's my real estate background? When I was living in Dallas (1987), I bought, with my ex-husband, a SFR in Plano. After about 5 years, we relocated to Houston (1993), so we sold the Dallas house, and bought a SFR in Houston (in Braeburn Valley), at almost a wash (100K sale, 100K purchase). After only a couple of years in Houston, we moved to California (1995), and almost immediately separated. Our property in Houston was under water, and after a while of paying half the mortgage (while my S2BX paid the other half), I signed the property over to him. He stayed in San Jose, and rented the property in Houston. Eventually he sold it.

In 2003, I bought a two unit building in San Francisco with another single woman, as a TIC. We converted to condos (2008), and I sold my condo in 2012. My fractional portion of the property at the time of purchase was about $420K (we got the whole building for 875K and mine was the smaller unit). I sold in 2012 for $723K. I bought a SFR in Oakland in Nov 2012. My purchase price was 575K, and I put 250K down, thinking this was the house that I wanted to retire in, and I wanted to have it paid off when I retire (in 15 years). My house has appreciated greatly since 2012. I haven't had it appraised, but using Zillow or Trulia estimates, I've gained a lot of equity (conservatively it's probably worth 725K).

I already am "house-hacking", although I've always just called it, "having a roommate". I had the same roommate for all of the 9 years that I was in the SF house, so I'm strategically only doing short-term rentals of my spare bedroom. I can't quite pay all of the expenses of this house, but I can offset a lot of them, allowing me to pay down my consumer debt, HELOC, and car much faster.

What is that I want to do with REI?  So, we come to today, when I've become interested in making some other real estate investments.  While I LOVE the idea of fix and flips, I don't think it's realistic of me to think that I have to time to devote to that.  I have two jobs, two major volunteer roles, and I'm taking classes right now.  Maybe someday...  I think that the most obvious path for me is turnkey rental property, likely out of state.  My mother and brother still live in Arkansas (North Little Rock and Ashdown), and my mom has a rental property (our family home) in Camden.  I also have friends in Austin, Texas and Columbus, Ohio and Cleveland, Ohio.  I also peruse listings for Dallas, Houston and Memphis, since I've lived in or near those cities, and know them fairly well.

What are my questions?  

How do I use the equity in my current home to invest? I have a great interest rate from 2012, and I don't particularly want to reset the clock on my loan, so what other ways do I have to access that equity? I already have a $50,000 HELOC, which I used to consolidate some consumer debt, so it's pretty utilized, but I know once it frees up, I'll be able to use that. Can I get additional Home Equity loans, solely for the purpose of investing? (BTW, I have excellent credit, above 770 on Credit Karma, higher on other reporting mechanisms). My present mortgage balance is down to 302K.

When I am able to get some equity out of my current loan, am I better off buying properties in the mid-South outright, and letting more of the cash flow come to me for future investing, or buying with the minimum down, and leveraging any rental property equity to buy the next property?

I've read a lot and I understand how debt to income ratio is calculated, and how prospective rents can be used to improve that calculation, but I wonder about how much stricter lenders in Arkansas or Tennessee or Ohio or Texas might be compared to California.  

Okay, I think that gets me started.  I'm sure I'll have other questions, but those are the ones that I'm ruminating on while I work on getting my little ducks in a row.