My wife and I were in the same situation end of 2022 where we were looking to acquire our first rental but also wanted to upgrade the primary residence. 

You will build skills and experience in acquiring and managing the duplexes that will help you with real estate projects large and small. 

As the title says, I'm interested in acquiring a STVR property in an area that has both summer demand for lake recreation, as well as close proximity to ski resorts. 

Building upon this success, a mere seven months later, I acquired a single-family property which I currently lease as a short-term rental.

Have you used seller financing to acquire properties? 

However, if the property is tenant-occupied, accessing it for renovations might prove difficult.If your intention is to purchase a distressed property for value addition, I would caution against acquiring properties with existing tenants, as this can pose challenges in the renovation process.

Currently I hold a few rental properties in California, but I am looking to expand out of state mainly because of the cost to acquire new properties in California has made it difficult to grow here.

The 95% Rule: you can exceed the 200% rule but you must acquire >=95% of the fair market value of the properties you identify.

And even with a heloc it doesn’t give me much for acquiring property and flipping those into rentals.

@Ravi KaruturiRavi, a Project with a $10M “all in” cost will typically support a 70%-80% loan to cost (LTC).This means that you can borrow $7M-$8M which means that you will have to invest an equity infusion of $3M-$2M.More fundamentally, if you are asking a question like this, your priorities need adjusting.Raising capital from whomever, and especially from friends and family must come after you have acquired and can demonstrate the skills necessary to build a $10M ground up development.I believe that if you pursue a plan to raise the equity required that you will find it very difficult to secure bank debt without a track record and or the skills noted above.Feel free to reach out to me if you want to talk.