This is pretty clean.Scenario 2:  Your partner has owned the house for 15 years and has been taking accelerated depreciation, so the book value of the house is very low. 

You can go as low as 10% down and there are programs that allows this for first timers with good credit.3.

Idle money is the quickest path to low returns and does no good for anyone.

We feared it was too low, but we were not willing to accept anything more and left it in Gods hands.

My thought is to use a HELOC for the down payment on a new property (20% down), then once I acquire it, do a cash-out refinance to pay off the HELOC while keeping my original low rate intact.

From a financial standpoint, the key is to ensure you're purchasing properties at a price low enough to make rehab costs and refinance achievable.

There are a couple opportunities thats on MLS currently, and I am crunching through my math and it seems to work out well (positive cash flow, decent cap rate).Some key assumptions I hope still holds true today:  low vacancy rate in general. ~1000-1200/month for a room in a single family house / duplex. 

Install landscaping that super low maintenance and reduces water usage and looks nice.

I think this is a calculation a lot of homeowners are making right now--especially if they have a low interest mortgage, equity, and their house will cashflow as a rental.The choice is a personal one of course, but I think your future self will thank you if you pull out some equity from your existing home with a HELOC for the downpayment on the next house and a cushion renting your current home, use a property manager as you have other things to do, and buy the next house and do the same thing again.

Annual taxes are low.