You have used home equity lines of credit to purchase investment rentals and want to know the best way to pay down the HELOCs.Between the two properties you bought, after expenses, you have $250 a month positive cashflow to use.What I like to do is pay down some principal every month with my positive cashflow.I use my extra active income from real estate commissions helping other investors to pay down the principal even more which just frees up that credit for me to use again.I know I can refinance the HELOC debt before it changes to principal and interest as it is just interest only payments as yours are.One difference is the cashflow, I have greater positive cashflow and could make the principal and interest payment in the future with the extra cashflow I already enjoy.I always get HELOCs on my income properties as well after purchasing them to pull out as much of my downpayment as possible.

Aside from downpayment, you want to have a solid emergency fund in place, something that can cover unexpected repairs, vacancies, or any other random costs that pop up.I’d also recommend saving more than you think you'll need and keeping a close eye on your expenses.

As they are getting paid to provide a service.

We hired and paid an appraisal co to come out on a Saturday so lender would have it on Monday.

Chicago has no east west train line that it really needs, It’s already too expensive for anyone to invest, but not expensive enough to really build out.  

We just paid $500 for a 2,600 sqft house that was fairly clean.

Property taxes-  normally paid in a delayed basis.  

Luckily this was all accounted for in my budget, but it was still a slow and expensive process. 

Tax structuring and LLC advice you can get for a paid fee too.

That leaves $400 to cover taxes, maintenance, vacancies, etc.Now, let's pretend ALL your expenses come to $2,600 and you have $400 left over.