Seller financing keeps your return of principal very low each year not bumping you up to higher tax brackets... 

I know you don't get principal pay down on lending money but I think you could do better.

Here is the problem I have... now the Airbnb calculator on the site does not appear to work, so I am using the rental income calculator because, to my mind, the principals are very similar.

No other amounts are deposited in the account during the year, and no portion of the principal amount of the debt is repaid during the year.

I would use whatever cash you can pull out to cover as much principal you can pay back on HELOC, but wouldn't go as far as paying off everything if you have to put significant amount of $ out of pocket. 

Principal balance is $31,000.

Principal balance is $31,000.

Hey everybody,A bunch of the OMs I'm getting sent include a principal reduction in the financial analysis.

However, the realtor told me that I can only buy multifamily if I have 20% down.Looking at the current mortgage rate (close to 5%), I am indeed a little bit cautious if I decided to buy a house (SFH or MFH).My game plan now is to save up my money for the next 12 months, so that I have enough principal to put 20% down for a property while learning real estate investing concepts since I am very new to all of this.May I ask what do you all think about this strategy?

If you now the rents can support the principal, interest, taxes, and insurance and you can make enough to handle the expenses on the property I would go with a lender.