In short, I can afford the additional $1100/mo cost of a second house, even until I rent it out.I have around $35K in HYSA and emergency funds that I could use for a down payment, but that's less than 20% which would be required for a conventional loan, assuming full purchase price.

Since it was my first duplex, I thought having one short term and one long term rental would be good.

I've done this on one house in order to cut costs - since then, I've added a meter with the utility company but it's a good workaround for the short term. 

I'd rather keep the sub-3% rate for now and finance other properties conventionally for the short term.

But I’m thinking of getting into STR investment and become more active.I’m a complete newbie to short-term rentals (STRs) and eager to wet my feet in this area.

That is tight leverage for an investment 2nd position loan.A private investor might be willing to do it, it's not going to be cheap at all & will be short-term money & will not be a line of credit to take out at your liking.What is your rate on the 1st?

I totally recognize that is impatient and greedy.My gut is saying your short picture idea is where we're heading since we are taking the same hit with brokerage account (I didnt even mention borrowing against 401k - yes its not advised but my wife and I have stable W2 income to pay ourselves back) Thanks again, this BP community / forum is awesome

I would try not to tie up any of the principal in down payments.Personally, I had a family member do this same thing, but they used an investment portfolio as the collateral instead of real estate.If you play your cards right, this might be the only short-term money you ever need.Please let us know what you end up doing.

I would also never buy a short term rental in an HOA - it's just one more entity that can tell you what you can or cannot do. 

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