Personally I would work on the debt side first, since purchasing a property is probably going to be the biggest investment of your life.Although you always hope it goes smooth with a rental, I've definitely had times when someone stops paying and you have to evict

As a petroleum engineer, I firmly believe there is no better investment to smooth out the volatile ups and downs of the O&G industry than real estate investments. 

Most important things to ensure a smooth renovation loan process is picking a lender that has ample 203k or renovation loan expertise.

But sometimes, the closer you get the harder it looks.If you don't have a lot of experience doing this, it's not the time to be saving small amounts of money and hoping everything goes smoothly. 

It took a couple weeks and was pretty smooth.

I was hoping for some guidance from everyone on which is the better strategy, and maybe point out some things I may have missed.Here are my goals:- purchase 2-3 properties a year to hold and rent- appreciation is nice but not a must have, focusing on cash flow and debt paydown as the benefits- open to possible rehabs/light cosmetic - I want to start slow with my first property, but if things go smoothly I would be ready to rinse and repeat when the right deal becomes availableSCENARIO A- use HELOC for the 20% down payment and then take out a traditional mortgage for the rest- POSSIBLE DRAWBACKS - not sure where to get $$ for the rehab if needed.

I'm looking for mortgage lender and broker recommendation to refi cash out from investment properties, need someone who can do it smoothly and competitive rates and discounted loan costs.

Everything is going smoothly but the one concern I have is a metal tank found during a scan. 

Or are you someone who smooths and removes?

Relatively smooth deal overall.