Then you could house hack to make extra money for your next down payment. 

If you're 25 or 35 and that monthly rent check gives you an extra vacation a year for the rest of your life, that might be fun too.Good luck and congratulations for being in the path of progress I guess.

Sales prices and mortgage rates make it really hard to find good deals today.Wholesaling sounds good, but you could make better money working extra shifts as a nurse.You could look for run-down properties as buy-and-holds.

For example, if you are in a secured position and invest $25k and can get 10% per year at $2500 or you can get 15% unsecured which is $3750, are people willing to risk the extra $1,250 a year where you could lose all of your $25,000 investment compared to being secured where chance of losing it all I would view as astronomically lower?

The extra cost is typically well worth the benefit. 

That would mean the extra 5k would technically come out of my pocket, right? 

We will take the quick deal any day over making a few extra thousand bucks.  

Remember to always budget 10-25% (depending on age/condition) extra as a buffer.

The Truth about Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahhooo accounts!

. :)   I'll likely do the HELOC and not worry about the extra taxes on gains over $500k when I finally do sell someday.