Pay down rental housing debt or keep cash for another deal

[Travis L.]

Hello BP gang,

I have a question for experienced investors on what to do in this situation.  I currently have about 30K cash to invest in my next rental property.  I bought my first SFH rental in feb of this year 2020 with 20% down and conventional financing.  I currently have a tenant in place and am cash flowing after all conservative expenses about $300 per month.  That rental I feel is going well and I am ready for the next.  The problem is I dont really want to throw 20% cash down again for another property, due to this virus thing.  I would like to hold onto my cash as a safety net atleast some of it.  So my question is should I put that cash toward furthering my equity in my first rental property? Allowing me to potentially set up a HELOC on the house so i can draw from it for down payments on my next house?  Or should I just put that cash toward another property when I can afford it. 

[Joe Villeneuve]

So you're asking us if you should take free money (cash) and put it into the floorboards of a rental property to pay down debt (that would then become a cost to you...and that your tenant was already doing for you...as in free new equity), so that at a later date you can pay for the privilege of using that same money (cash now...as in free to use) by establishing an LOC?