Financing Investments for the newbie

[Bobby Gillespie]

So this is my first post as I venture into real estate investment... hi all! I feel enlightened joining up here and starting the learning process via the Podcasts and reading up.

I wanted to get the most basic of advise from you regarding financing.

I am lucky to have about $50k... but the unlucky part is that it's in England and in GBP with an exchange rate that sucks! So I'm thinking of leaving it for a while.

I also have our family house that has no mortgage ( value approx. $290k)... so I'm sitting on equity that's not earning much for me.

Originally, I was to convert the money and use it for the down payment on a 'good' deal locally to rent out. Instead, I may look to use the equity in my house to do the same. My theory is that I'll start slowly... buy 1 place to rent.. give it some time (a year) and then do the same again etc etc.

Would I want to get a line a credit type financing vs re-mortgaging and sitting on a chunk of money??

I'm in Tampa, Fl

Thanks